Tina's Story

Tina was ashamed at the debt she had accumulated which, it turns out, largely due to wanting to help and protect what she loves most: her family.  

It took Tina a lot to go down to St Mary’s church. She knew REACH would be there and she had reached desperation point, but it was nevertheless excruciating for her to actually go and seek help. When Community Adviser, Diana, sat down to hear her story, Tina cried for an hour. She was ashamed at the debt she had accumulated which, it turns out, largely due to wanting to help and protect what she loves most: her family.  

Aged 60, Tina is working two jobs, in a petrol station and at a fast-food outlet. Doing an early morning or a late-night shift at the petrol station means she can fit in the food outlet during the day. Her days are long and her body tired, especially at the fast-food outlet where she has to stand all day. She is struggling with her knees post-operation and has recently had to have time off sick to try and heal fully.  

Tina lives in rented accommodation through the Housing Association, pays full rent and isn’t on any benefits. As a single occupant, managing monthly costs is a challenge, but by far the bigger challenge were the escalating debts as a result of credit cards, tax credit overpayments from when her children lived at home, council tax and a water bill. Nevertheless it was a huge shock to her to hear the final figure of debt she had accumulated. 

It was our Community Adviser, Laura, who worked with her for five months, diligently looking at every bill or letter regarding her debts. Debt accumulated through cars on finance for her daughter and mobile contracts for her grandchildren. When her daughter’s car was taken by her partner, it was Tina who had to fork out for the debt owed. Except she wasn’t able to. She also had 10K due from Tax Credit overpayments, bringing her total debts to just shy of 50K. She was utterly horrified. 

Lizzie worked first on obtaining a grocery grant to pay her rent arrears and then set to work on putting through a debt relief order (DRO). This involved sending letters to creditors with the support of the admin officer, then sending everything off to CMA to check.  

When it finally went through in March 2025, Tina said she had learned a lesson and not least of it was to be able to say ‘no’ to her daughter. The debt relief order was a weight off her shoulders. Having faced the knocks of bailiffs, she is no longer in panic at the sound of the doorbell.  

Laura will send her a text in three months to see how she’s doing. Laura says she’s a very capable woman who made a mistake that she intends never to repeat again. Lesson learned.