Help is out there,We found it! - Real Mum story on MoM

23 Comments

Around 14 years ago I was told that due to my chronic pain, i would never work again. I was devastated, how were we supposed to pay for everything, we were living on 2 wages, good wages too. We had 2 kids in High School which cost us over $1000 per child plus uniforms. then there was the high rent, living on the bay straight towards Melbourne. We had credit cards, 2 each, and high bills. My goodness, I ended up in a deep depression, so we decided to move to Tasmania, the kids weren’t happy, but we had to think of us. We were too ashamed to tell them.

I went onto Disability Pension, hubby is my full time carer and we rented a house for over $200 less than what we used to pay. Watching TV we saw an ad where we could get a home loan on a pension, we could only spend a certain amount due to our ages, I think it was $55,000, but with the first home buyers scheme, we had it covered. For the deposit, we paid extra to the real estate, part rent, part deposit as we found our perfect home with almost 2 acres, one street from the main street, and a short walk to school for the kids – $50,000. We offered her $45,000 and she accepted, therefore the repayments were pretty low, only $130 a week, much less than what we paid in rent. So we went for it.

Without being able to work, we struggled, as soon as we would get the credit cards down, the bank would increase our limit. Finally we crashed, everything was too much, we were still paying our mortgage and paid extra, but with everything else we were robbing peter to pay paul.

1st step – We went to the council and filled out a form to pay our rates fortnightly, $20 a fortnight – nothing.

2nd step – We rang one of the Credit people that advertised to help. They stopped the phone calls looking for money, no more harassing phone calls. We signed a Government Debt assistance form through ‘Debt Cutters’. They did everything, all we did was had to pay an amount out of our pension. It took 5 years, but every bill, every credit card, everything we were worried about was GONE! Never to be seen again. I would never have another credit card again, just a Debit Card,

Our credit rating isn’t crash hot, but all our debts are paid off, we are much happier, not ashamed anymore for lying to anyone who asked for money, you know the answers – we sent a cheque… I thought my wife paid that… etc etc We ARE FREE!!! If you are having problems, never hide from the people you owe money to. Always be honest with them, even be cheeky and ask for some help, the credit card people have a facility for hardship, PLEASE do not be ashamed, we have all been there. Good luck and I am here if you have any questions. Thank you. xxx Dee

Posted by dee lindsay, 31st March 2014

23 Comments

- - mum4107 said
  - 06 Jun 2015
    9:12 pm
Good on you for seeking help

- - mom113055 said
  - 18 Apr 2015
    6:52 pm
good and nice story

- - mom57522 said
  - 10 Jan 2015
    10:40 pm
I’m interested in the council rates side of things. Going to check this out.

- - no1ladydj said
  - 06 Jul 2014
    11:40 pm
Companies that you owe money to are generally pretty understanding if you’re honest with them, and ask for a payment plan to be worked out. It’s when people don’t pay, and don’t get in contact with the company, that they get nasty. And if you have money in superannuation, you can always apply to get some of it through the hardship provision.

- - mums-info said
  - 31 May 2014
    5:55 pm
thats great so happy to here that

- - coppin85 said
  - 28 May 2014
    3:16 pm
its good to hear your free of the stress

- - catgrrl3 said
  - 16 May 2014
    8:04 pm
well, I have to say I hope we find it too, cause we have been searching and getting no where

- - rachaelchara said
  - 08 May 2014
    4:11 pm
Good Advice.Thanks for being so honest and frank.

- - tilly said
  - 06 May 2014
    9:21 pm
Fantastic information and I would like to say well done on being FREE it must be a good feeling after all you have been through.

- - coppin85 said
  - 30 Apr 2014
    2:05 pm
Thank you for sharing your story to help others in need!!

- - scottie said
  - 28 Apr 2014
    7:48 pm
thank you for sharing Dee… so many of us are struggling and it is food for thought to consider some different options

- - mel1 said
  - 24 Apr 2014
    2:36 pm
Good on you for getting things sorted and back on track. I too ha an accident and can’t work. It really makes a big difference when you have a family on one income.

- - dee lindsay said
  - 23 Apr 2014
    11:32 am
Thank you to everyone who has left an inspiring comment to my story. There are too many people these days who just want to hide and keep their debt problems private because they have too much pride. My hubby was like this. He didn’t want anyone to know, whereas, I feel it important to shout it from the treetops. There is nothing to be ashamed about.
These days, we don’t have the job security that we used to have, or we can’t trust our friends lik we used to, so I thought it important to let you know there is an easy way out. Yes, your credit rating is poor for awhile, but when you think, it only took us 5 years to pay off almost $30,000 of debt, so waiting for another few years for our credit rating to clear is nothing. I will never get in that situation again. We told our kids not to get into the same situation, work at paying extra on your mortgage, even when the interest loans are low, or high.

I hope I have helped some of you who are in need of help. The name of the Company that helped us are called Debt Cutters. If you look in the back of magazine’s such as Take 5 or That’s Life, they may have similar. There is someone out there to help you. xxxxx Best wishes for the future Dee xoxoxox

- - kellyewinsor said
  - 22 Apr 2014
    12:21 pm
Im really happy that you managed to sort your debts out and actually talk about it here as you could well help out another mum struggling to pay her bills.

- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 18 Apr 2014
    9:49 pm
Thanks so much for your advice Dee. It has made me think about things. It is so easy to do the ostrich when the stress becomes too much if you have other things going on in life that are causing the issue or adding to the stress.