A few months ago, in April 2024, I completed my IVA after 5 years - it’s an incredible feeling to have money in my pocket again after everything I’ve been through.
Debt never used to be something I worried about. I worked in the financial sector in Canary Wharf and was on a really good wage, and because of this, credit was very easy to get hold of. I quickly started using credit cards to support the lifestyle I had, and I made sure to make the payments I needed towards them each month.
However, things fell apart when I was made redundant twice in a row.
I spent almost a year unemployed and using my redundancy money to pay for rent and credit card payments before moving back in with my parents in Bournemouth and taking a job at a supermarket.
My wage was only around £800 per month and I was spending all of this on essentials such as paying for car insurance so that I could get to work, with whatever I had left going towards my debts. After about 10 months I found a new job and moved to Manchester, but I still found myself struggling to cover everything that I needed – there was always a tension between paying for my living costs and making payments towards my previous credit commitments.
When I eventually completely missed a payment, I decided to go online and look for help.
I called StepChange and went through the debt advice process, which included a budgeting session, which I found really helpful.
As I was submitting all of my information, I researched the different types of debt solution available and found out about IVAs, and therefore it wasn’t a surprise to me when I was recommended one as a solution to my situation.
I immediately felt relieved after hiding things for a long time and feeling a lot of shame.
In the run up to telling my parents I was worried about their reaction, but it went a lot better than I thought. I knew that an IVA was the best option for me and I was excited to move forward with the process.
Originally, I was committed to paying a minimum of £189 per month, but I ended up paying more like £300 per month in the first year due to cutting back my costs during the pandemic. However, I had to scale things back down when my gas and electricity bill jumped from £60 per month to £180 per month, and the cost of my food shop went up substantially.
My reaction was to simply put my head down, cut back on things and get on with it, because I’d committed to my debt solution and I wanted to see it through.
Whilst I appreciate that some people might be put off by the idea of a set minimum monthly payment, I liked and benefitted from the certainty that this brought me.
I knew that the length of my debt solution was not going to increase at any point, and therefore I had an end date to work towards, which was a helpful motivator.
Not having a credit card for 5 years also taught me to have much more self-control with my spending.
This is Kevin's story, which he kindly allowed us to share. Kevin had an IVA with StepChange Voluntary Arrangements, part of StepChange Debt Charity.