Sending money overseas to family in hardship tipped Eva into hardship too

Eva moved to Australia a few years ago from a country facing wide scale poverty.

Her life in Australia provided better economic opportunities. After being asked for financial support by family and friends back in her home country she felt an obligation to provide funds as she deeply understood the inescapable hardship they were facing.  

However, Eva eventually ended up in hardship herself, unable to pay for her own essential needs because she was paying for others. 

“I wanted to help my family because things were not good for them.” 

“I was not too badly off at the beginning, but it escalated from there and I got into a deep mess.”  

“It started with a personal loan, and then went into a credit card. My family eventually realised how bad my situation had become and asked that I stop borrowing money for them.  

“As the situation got worse for me, I found it difficult to explain because they were overseas.” 

Eva hadn’t created a budget before but had not encountered financial problems before she started taking out loans to send money to her friends and family overseas.  

“I was not a good budget manager of any sort. When I had money, I knew how much I had to pay to creditors and was making minimum repayments. I was not missing payments.” 

Eva was introduced to Way Forward via Christians Against Poverty (CAP).  

“Christians Against Poverty gave me a good start. They then sent me to Way Forward who put together a repayment plan. 

“Kelly helped me within two months. She had the solution, she was an amazing person. It changed my life.” 

Eva is almost at the end of her repayment plan with Way Forward and she will have completed all her debt repayments by August 2023. 

“My repayment arrangement was initially supposed to the be 3 years, but my circumstances changed and I had to give up one of my paying jobs, as it involved manual labour and I am older, so my arrangement is now 1 year.”

Eva reflects on what she has learned through the process of becoming a Way Forward client: “I’m rather careful now, I don’t overspend. I live with my sister, which keeps costs down. I’m in a good place.  

“I’m still working, and I get a part pension also and I put aside as much as I can.”  

For Eva, being upfront about her situation meant her financial problems could be dealt with. 

“Don’t be afraid. Way Forward helped me and I know they can help you. Just tell them everything, and they see you through and help you all the way. 

“Thank you very much for the wonderful work that Kelly and Way Forward did for me. I’m smiling more now.”