Kim has over 20 years experience writing for personal finance blogs under an array of different names. Her experience and knowledge of daily news helps guide the website and the content we release.
About Kim Johnstone
Kim has over 20 years experience writing for personal finance blogs under an array of different names. Her experience and knowledge of daily news helps guide the website and the content we release.
My name is Maria and i got into a lot of debt before being diagnosed as bipolar by my GP 5 years ago which was when i got help. My debt rose to £50,000 between loans, credit & store cards and overdrafts all within a 3 year period as my mental state deteriorated. I can’t say when it started exactly because it was a slow, increasingly depressive feeling which took a number of years to fully take hold of me. I found myself taking out loans just to pay for material items…
When I got a large energy bill which i couldn’t afford to pay it forced me to take out a payday loan, although it appeared easy to repay the reality my income wasn’t enough The payday loan repayment along with interest just meant i had bought myself a month before i was back to having the same problem again. The only option I had was to take out another payday loan to cover the first one and hope there’s was a way I would find another way to repay it….
I have to admit I have always liked the finer things in life but in my defence I also knew the importance of working hard and not living on credit. While I can’t admit to being the best saver in my family or even circle of friends I have always made sure to not to live on credit but some how that changed. I’m not sure exactly when or even how but gradually over a period of about 2 years I started to use more and more credit cards and…
I was always taught to save money and never get into debt so when I found myself owing over £50,000 to different creditors after facing redundancy it was a shock. I’m an educated woman who had a good job as an estate agent earning £30k per year plus bonus, this was until the financial collapse in 2008. Suddenly the housing market crashed and my job was no longer safe but I always assumed there would be a job available to me in my current employment. I was told by my employer…
I separated from my wife about 2 years ago but didn’t realise the financial impact it was set to have on my future due to the level of debt in my name. Almost all credit cards, loans, mortgage and other debts were in my name because my credit rating was far superior due to my well paying job. The debt was always manageable because we had two wages coming into the house, albeit her income was from a part time job it certainly helped. After years of fighting and unhappiness…
My boiler began to stop working and was coming to the end of it’s life when i decided to call in an engineers who installed a new one for £3k. The price then increased by the time the work was completed to 6.5k which I disputed with the engineer but he wasn’t interested and demanded payment. The engineer continued to send me threatening letters forcing me to either pay or he would take me to court and have me declared bankrupt. Although I had some other credit cards and a…
When I managed to get into around £30,000 of debt and I was borrowing more money each month just to survive I realised i had to seek debt advice. I called a debt advice company who took all my income and outgoings information before telling me i was suitable for something called an IVA. They explained the IVA would allow me to repay the debt over 5 years and any debt still outstanding at the end would simply be written off. This sounded like the perfect debt solution for me…
When I was working full time, had a good property and went on 2 holiday’s a year it never once occurred I could be declared sequestrated one day. So it came as a shock when the company i worked for started making people redundant and I was told they would no longer require my services. I had a mortgage to pay, 2 children to feed and my husband didn’t make enough to support us or meet our credit commitments each month. Although i received a £5000 redundancy package this wasn’t…
When i was 21 i decided to take out a store card because i was told i could have the new TV i really wanted without having to pay anything on the day. I was working at the time and could afford to repay it over 3 months so i never feared getting into debt or worried about interest payments. As i planned the TV was paid off within 3 months without a single default but by this point i had taken out another 4 store cards. I was able…
I entered a debt management plan after i fell behind on my repayments to credit cards and a loan, due to an illness which stopped me working. My illness meant i was unfit to work for at least 6 months, even though I received some health benefits they weren’t enough to cover my expenses. My debts gradually got larger and larger until my creditors were threatening to take legal action against me and even sent bailiffs to my door. I tried to negotiate with them and explained my situation however…
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