Taking back control
Advanced customer advisor, Darren Kelsall, from Stoke Contact Centre is finally in the clear after having spent 30 years of his life in debt.
Darren’s debt spiral began in his mid-teens. Having come from a poor background, he was used to having little to no money, so when he left school and took out his first loan, he quickly blew the money and struggled to pay it back.
When he discovered how easy it was to borrow money from banks and credit card companies, so began a downward spiral, which would have a devastating toll on the next 30 years of his life.
‘I was from a poor family in quite a deprived area and I just felt like I deserved to have things that others had, without realising the consequences of taking out a loan,’ said Darren. ‘Going from having nothing to being able to have everything was just too tempting.
‘Another loan, another card and before I knew it I was in a terrible mess. The banks were happy to throw money at me. They sell you a lifestyle. At the time, I was completely ill-equipped mentally to handle it.
‘I was juggling minimum payments and struggling to cope, living from one card or loan to another, along with the interest stacked on each outstanding debt. I wasn’t reducing the debt, it was just going up month after month, year after year. I had all the highs of spending the money, but when I was low, it was low. It consumes every thought, every moment of the day just worrying about debt.
‘I was scared to answer my phone, I was scared to answer the door, it was awful. I can’t describe how mentally and physically ill it makes you feel. I was living in constant fear. You try to bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening, but they keep chasing and chasing you. There’s no escape.
‘It led to a break up with my family and me ending up homeless for close to a year. Luckily, I had a lot of good friends who let me stay with them for weeks or even months at a time, under certain conditions. For example, one friend let me stay as long I was out of the house in the day job hunting etc, but I could sleep there at night, so essentially, I was walking the streets in the day.
‘The banks eventually stopped lending me money and I ended up taking out an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA) to consolidate my loans, which at this point totalled around £32,000. But when I asked them how long they thought it would take me to pay off my debts, they said “more than 100 years!”’
It was at this point that Darren decided he was going to take matters into his own hands and negotiate with his debtors himself. He realised that through his IVA plan he was only paying back each company £1 or £2, while the rest went straight to the debt firm on fees. When he quit his debt management plan and haggled directly with his debtors he found that many firms agreed to write off the debt if he paid a chunk off upfront.
‘I then set about cutting back on all of my spending and living on next to nothing, so that I could save as much money as possible and make each company a lump sum offer. I took up any extra overtime that I could, sometimes working six or seven days a week, quit the gym, started running or cycling to work and cut down on my gas, food and electricity bills.’
Within 12 months, Darren managed to write off 15 of the debts with £11,500 - saving him thousands. He finally reached his debt-free milestone in July 2019.
‘I can’t even describe the feeling I had when they said the debt was gone,’ he said. He now wants to help others struggling with spiralling debts and encourage people to face their finances so they can pay off what they owe sooner.
How to get debt help for free
There are lots of groups who can help you with your problem debts.
- Citizens Advice - 0808 800 9060
- StepChange - 0800 138 1111
- National Debtline - 0808 808 4000
You can also find information about Debt Management Plans (DMP) and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) on the Money Advice Service website and on the Government's Gov.uk site.
