Stories of People Like You Who Managed to Overcome Debt

Drowning in debt? You are not alone. While plenty of people have a lot of debt (although you may not know it from their fancy cars and designer handbags), there are people who decided to overcome debt – and succeeded. Read on to discover their stories, and be inspired by short term lender Cashfloat. If they can do it, so can you.

Debt management success stories

Here are some stories that will encourage you that it is possible to overcome debt:

Write to your lenders

In the following two stories, the borrower wrote to their lenders to explain their situation. This helped by freezing the debt so interest did not keep on accumulating. Then, they were able to pay it off slowly but surely.

Anonymous sharers on Talk About Debt spoke of hope amidst a sea of debt and doubt. In one story, a person managed to cut his debt from £27,500 years ago down to £2,000 by August 2014. He had lost his job in a restaurant at some point so he had written to his creditors about his inability to pay them. Now his lenders do not charge him with interest, which he tries his best to avoid. Instead, he looks for vouchers and free things on the Internet, lives frugally — bringing lunch to work — and has eliminated spend days.

Another person got buried in debt by means of credit cards, store cards and catalogue debt. She incurred arrears in a lot of areas such as rent, council tax and gas and electricity bills. She resorted to a debt consolidation loan to try and overcome debt. However, instead of helping her, it pushed her deeper into the rut. She began seeing the light at the end of the tunnel when a friend suggested that she write to her lenders. Write she did: She began by inputting her monthly income and outgoings and then noted the repayment amounts she could afford to make each month.

The friend who suggested the idea had previously tried the same tactic with Citizens Advice Bureau. Fortunately, this time the action plan worked for both her and her friend. She is now working on clearing up her record without having to borrow any more money.

Realising how deep your debt is

It’s all too easy to coast along in life, spending on plastic and ignoring the numbers on your credit card statements growing bigger and bigger. Sometimes, one moment of realisation of the true extent of your debt can literally change your life.

An inspiring story on MoneySavingExpert.com started with a man realising, as he was surfing one night, that he and his wife’s credit card debt was higher than they initially thought it was. In their mid-20s, the couple had been living in a bubble. They had been out to buy what they wanted, go on one-off weekend trips and exhaust their salaries two weeks after pay day. He said he had basically continued his lifestyle, very much dependent on the plastic for the rest of the month.

He and his wife had not paid much thought to their credit card abuse until the night of epiphany came, and the man was struck by what really was at stake for them. Their debt had reached something between £18,000-19,000 by then.

The big decision

The morning after, the man spoke about the staggering balance to his wife. Together, they decided not to continue burying themselves in the pit. They devised an action plan. He would call all their creditors and close their credit card accounts. He looked at their outgoings and then cut down on the costs. Rent went first as their then-contract was about to expire. The couple found a place that saved them £100 monthly.

The harder steps took place one time, big time. They slashed cable TV subscriptions and vacations off the budget. He would also bring packed lunch to work, and he and his wife did not even allow themselves to shop for new clothes. It was really an all-out commitment on their end, a fight even. And the confidence of paying off the full amount grew with the first few grand being taken down. It grew and grew until they were able to overcome debt and pay it all within an astonishing two years.

To date, the man shared that he is down to one credit card, mainly for credit standing purposes. He and his wife live within a budget, avoiding the splurges that brought about their downfall in the past.

Don’t get scared by big numbers

It’s all very well when your debt is ‘only’ 4 or 5 figures. But what about when you owe hundreds of pounds? The following story shows you that anything is possible. You CAN overcome debt of hundreds of pounds if you set your mind to it – as this couple did.

In the same vein, another couple worked out to pay off £100,000; £157,000 if with interest and additional fees within three years. Had they not been at the tail of renovating their house, they could have cleared their debt in just 2.5 years. The wife, Maria, sold her car as they had two. They opted for a consolidation loan, educated themselves about how money works and did not stop utilising the knowledge they accumulated each day.

They also started earning more than they spent, and every excess off their budget would go to debt repayments. Their strategy, like the last couple, was to put a lot of their cash in hand to repayment. To cut a long story short, Maria and her husband John have overcome debt and are now debt-free. They share their story and knowledge now on a site called The Money Principle.

Conclusion: YOU Can Overcome Debt!

The Motley Crew called debt the evil beast, while AskMen.com concluded that it is a necessary evil. Arguably, only people’s attitude and actions towards it make it seem good or bad or ugly. Why? Because it is people who take control of the steering wheel; it is also them who let go of it at some point.

Being a prudent borrower means you have control over your finances despite the times you need to reach out to external resources for aid, such as payday loans. Of course, these methods for obtaining quick cash to pay off urgent expenses should never be considered for long term solutions. In case you find yourself steeped in debt, remind yourself that it is just a matter of gaining back that control. It is not an easy to road to take. But the people in the stories shared above went through the same thing—and they conquered. There is no reason you cannot make it yourself.