When Brad turned 18 years old, he took out his first loan. He borrowed money to buy the things he always wanted as a kid but could not afford: a big screen television and a new sound system, and a nice secondhand car. Fast forward 10 years and his was unable to pay off those debts anymore, in fact, he could no longer afford groceries. He was in trouble and needed help.  

“I was worried about my financial situation for a long time but always had that couple of hundred dollars saved up. Then suddenly, I couldn’t afford anything at all. I had to ask my parents or someone else to help me.” 

“That’s a hard circle to get out of. You save up money and then another random expense comes up. And you’re back to square one again. 

“All the banks say yes to lending you money because you’re an 18-year-old. Then suddenly, you got four credit cards, each maxed out. I’m 29 years old now, I didn’t do anything about my finances until I was 28 years old. I just kept paying off the monthly fees.” 

 Brad says having a well-paid job means that he was able to borrow money easily. He took our several loans.  

“Ten different bills add up, they are nothing by themselves, but together they add up to a lot.” 

 He said his debts and challenging financial situation started to take its toll on his health and wellbeing.  

“It made me go and drink. It made me think, well, I’m not going to get anywhere, let’s just spend this 50 dollars on alcohol because there’s no point trying to save it.”  

“Money was that major stress; it just shuts down your life.” 

 Brad says he sacrificed experiences and moments he would rather have had.  

“I had friend’s weddings, I couldn’t go either interstate or on a holiday. I’ve never been overseas; I’ve never done any of that sort of stuff.  

“Being in survival mode, you think spending money on yourself is a waste of money. I’ve got the mindset that a holiday is a waste of money. Which I don’t believe it is. Experiences are experiences. You need to have them.” 

“That was what triggered me to change. And now, what I’m paying for my debts through Way Forward is 100 percent manageable. 

 Brad then sought help and called the National Debt Helpline who referred him to Way Forward. 

 “Way Forward put together a budget. I was included in the process and given all the necessary information to keep me informed of the process and outcome.

“It taught me how I could manage it eventually on my own.  

“It is about being empowered by knowledge and learning how to exactly manage your money moving forward. 

“I still want to have the ability to make those mistakes. And choosing the correct path rather than making those mistakes.”

 Brad is feeling much better about his financial situation.  

“Money is no longer a stress. I still have all these loans to pay off. But it’s no longer keeping me up at night.  

“Once every two or three years, I would refinance. I would put all my credit card into the one personal loan. It helped a little bit but then I could also get an extra few extra thousand dollars to have in bank account and in three months’ time, it was all gone. It wasn’t manageable. 

Brad had previously sought help from a fee-based service to help him with his debts.  

“Their business plan is to take part of the money, that’s just never seemed right to me. It helps a bit but it’s taking money from someone who’s already struggling.  

 “There was no there was ulterior motive with you guys ever had because it is a free service.” 

Struggling to pay for the essentials such as food and rent and want to know more about your options? Our emergency funding page lists some of the available free emergency services and funding if you live in Australia and find yourself in financial difficulty.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a destructive force across the country and the globe. For many businesses, it has been a difficult and stressful time. However, for some, the nature of their business, whether it be producing hand sanitiser or masks, means that have been able to carve out small to large successes.    

Joe has been running his own business for several years. In 2019 over a six-month period, he started to struggle financially. The business was experiencing a downturn that led to financial hardship.   

“It was a combination of the business downturn and Christmas and then coming back after Christmas and not a lot happening. It’s a domino effect.”   

Joe has been working with Way Forward’s Hardship Advocate, Paula.   

“She just takes care of it.  I just got to ensure that I’ve got money in the account every month and it’s all happens in the background. There’s nothing that needs to be done now. I just make sure that I keep the payments up.”   

For Joe, once the pandemic hit, whether through a changing economy or change in consumer habits, he started to see an increase in demand for the packaging products his company sells. This meant that he had income available again to pay back creditors. However, he still needed to negotiate a payment plan.    

“Way Forward have done a fantastic job but the positivity I’m getting is the turnaround in the business that allows me to have the money every month.”  

“The team there have done a great job in being able to negotiate with all the creditors and allow me to have one payment per month to pay everybody.  

“If the business wasn’t doing well, I’d be stressing about it every month, where I’m going to find the money that I’ve got to pay to pay everybody back? The way it was set up with Way Forward, was great.”  

Although rewarding in many ways, Joe explains the challenges and stresses of running his own business.   

“You think about your business all the time, you think about cash flow, where your next projects coming from. It’s 24/7.  

“I did have savings and the savings just went and then you have school fees and things like that. So, it all just adds up.  

Joe also describes how time consuming the calls from creditors became.    

“When I look back at it, it was really time consuming. And when you’re running a business, and they’re trying to sort this out, it was it just eats up a lot of time. “   

“Every time the bank would call, it’s an hour trying to sort it out. You just end up avoiding calls.”   

Joe had contracted a company to sort out his debts. Without informing him, they decided to not work with him anymore, which left his creditors in the dark. This means by the time he had come to Way Forward, he had to go through the process for a second time.   

“They didn’t tell me this, but they decided that they couldn’t make any money out of it, so they dropped me. And that left all the creditors wondering what’s going on, because I hadn’t been paid.”   

After Joe was referred to Way Forward by BankWest, he went through the process of trying to work out a repayment plan.    

“It was all very sort of transparent and relatively easy, but still took time.”  

Joe advises that for people experiencing financial difficulty, it’s important to talk about it.   

“Maybe it’s a male thing but sometimes we tend to bury our heads in the sand a little bit.    

“If you can confront head on you will get to a resolution and you can move forward. I would just suggest tackling it head on. There might be a little bit of pain in the short term, but long term, there’s some definite gain.” 

Struggling to pay for the essentials such as food and rent and want to know more about your options? Our emergency funding page lists some of the available free emergency services and funding if you live in Australia and find yourself in financial difficulty.

It started with being a bit excessive. The debt and the excessive spending and then the interest rate, I couldn’t catch up. It was so difficult to keep up with the monthly repayments, and then I had the interest rate hitting me from the other side.

Amir was ahead. He had saved a decent deposit for a property and was working in a job that paid well. Until the day he was approached by a family member to contribute money for a joint property. He knew he was unable to refuse.  

This property became financially burdensome very quickly. He was asked by the same family member to borrow more money to contribute again to the cost of the home. This pushed Amir to the edge. He was taken out loans that he could not afford. He felt pressure to continue to contribute financially.

Amir felt controlled and unfairly treated in these family relationships. He was paying the bills on the property. 

He eventually moved out of the home he was sharing with family members. He continued to pay the mortgage, but now, was also paying rent on his own place. He was forced to sell. The money he retrieved from the sale was a small portion of what he contributed to the initial deposit, additional lump sum payments and mortgage repayments.  

He was also in debt from balancing these expenses that he could not afford.  

“I was exhausted. I had support of friends but not of family, it was terrible. 

“It started with being a bit excessive. The debt and the excessive spending and then the interest rate, I couldn’t catch up. It was so difficult to keep up with the monthly repayments, and then I had the interest rate hitting me from the other side. 

“It has changed, I don’t buy anything that I don’t need not because I can’t afford it but because I have changed.”   

The hardest thing for Amir was managing the interest rate and the multiple credit cards.   

“It was my fault, I did take out the loan, and I wanted to deal with the issues.”  

“I called Way Forward, and spoke to Paula, the angel. It wasn’t just how she helped me, it was how she spoke to me.  

“She gave me the assurance that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And we can do something, and she was absolutely amazing. To hear her voice, and the comfort it gave me, I started to sleep again at night. 

“I used to feel like there’s nothing left for me in this life. It was really tough.  

“Way Forward has changed my life in a really positive way. I enjoy my work. I got promoted, I am doing so well in my work because my focus is on my work and not on anything else. I’ve been paying off the money each fortnight and I’m even saving some money now.”  

His message?

“Don’t lose hope.

“Yes, it’s going to take me three years, but it’s already been 6 months, these three years is going to be nothing. No matter how big the debt, just approach the right people.”

If you’d like to know more about how Way Forward can help you: 

Enquire here or call us on 1300 451 343

Use our free budget planner or repayment calculator.

Struggling to pay for the essentials such as food and rent and want to know more about your options? Our emergency funding page lists some of the available free emergency services and funding if you live in Australia and find yourself in financial difficulty.

“It felt like you were in an endless spiral of going nowhere.”

Like many young people, Amanda dreamed of buying her first car, and taking an overseas trip.

At 18 years old, she borrowed money to fulfil those goals. But then the unexpected happened a few years later: she had to find funds for medical bills and things started to spiral. She borrowed more money.

“I borrowed a large amount of money I wasn’t really in a position to be paying back. I was so oblivious to my lack of understanding.”

“My interest was so high that half of my payments were going in interest. And that was the case for 2 years, I was going nowhere. I thought that I would just work even harder, make extra money to pay off the interest.

“It felt like you were in an endless spiral of going nowhere.

“I was working so hard, putting all this money away. It was extremely defeating. I was looking into bankruptcy. Somebody put me onto you guys, and it was a lifesaver.”

Amanda describes the interest repayments as “completely depleting, it sucked the life out of me, thinking of how much I was putting in and then how much I was getting out.”

“My mental health was really poor because it pushed me into a state of burnout because I was trying to get on top of it.”

Now that Amanda has a budget and a repayment plan, she feels like she has her life back.

Her advice? “Educate yourself.”

“I had relationships completely deteriorate. My partner and I really struggled for about a year because I was constantly at work.

“My whole quality of life is different now. I can spend time with my friends and family and feel like I have the choice. It’s a feeling of freedom.”

Amanda had previously spoken with hardship services that were unable to assist her given her circumstances did not fit their criteria.

“They have a box, if you don’t fit that box: ‘sorry we can’t help you’.

“You guys crafted a box for me, and if there was something that I couldn’t fit, you were really person centred.

“Everyone from you team that I’ve dealt with, especially Paula, has been absolutely amazing.

“And that made me feel like I wasn’t judged, like you were going above and beyond, and that I matter.

“There is a lot of shame that comes from being in this situation, you feel like you are not good enough because I am in debt.

“I felt like I was heard and that I was worthy enough to be helped. It really gave me my life back. And I am so, so thankful for it. Paula is an absolute legend.

The way that she made me feel, the calming influence that she had, that get me emotional. I was feeling so overwhelmed. She made me it so easy. And I am so thankful. It’s changed everything.”

If you’d like to know more about how Way Forward can help you: 

Enquire here or call us on 1300 451 343

Use our free budget planner or repayment calculator.

Struggling to pay for the essentials such as food and rent and want to know more about your options? Our emergency funding page lists some of the available free emergency services and funding if you live in Australia and find yourself in financial difficulty.