Before your second appointment

Tanya: Firstly, before I say anything else, I want to say: ​‘Well done.’ Well done for overcoming your fears and well done for taking the courageous first step in contacting Christians Against Poverty. We are here to help you. You may look at your situation now and think it looks hopeless. But I want to tell you that there is hope and there really is a future. I know this because we help tens of thousands of clients just like you every single year.

Lorraine: I hadn’t paid my rent. Hadn’t paid the Council Tax, hadn’t paid my car insurance, I hadn’t paid the dog’s insurance. I hadn’t paid anything, anything at all. Nothing.

Hazel: And the more I tried to get out of debt, the deeper into debt I was getting.

Sharon: I said, ​‘How am I going to get out of this situation?’

Reg and Janice: We just didn’t know where to turn. I mean, we didn’t — you know — what are we going to do here? You know, we can’t go on like this.

Maurice: It’s an unreal situation and you run away and you put your head in the sand.

Tanya: You might feel like there’s no way out of your debt situation, but the truth is that no matter how bad it is there’s always hope. At our headquarters here in Bradford, we have a team of dedicated staff who are trained and experienced to deal with your case. They will work with you to build a budget and provide you with advice and options for dealing with your debts.

Reg and Janice: They were just natural, authentic, they were just real people that were going — had the skill to help us.

Sharon: I just felt so warm and I felt like how much they actually cared for me.

Tracey: And it didn’t matter how long or how short of a time, you know, it was going to take that they were going to be there.

Christina: And I started, sort of, thinking ​‘there may be — may be a light at the end of this tunnel here.’

Playing your part

Tanya: The big thing that you need to do now is to get all of your financial paperwork together. These are things like wage slips, benefits paperwork, demand letters from your creditors or current bills. Before your Debt Coach leaves today, they will give you a further list of paperwork that you will need to get together so that we can start working with you to build a solution that will get you out of debt.

Hazel: ​‘We’ll go through all your paperwork, just bring all your paperwork’ she said, ​‘Just get me all the paperwork.’

Tracey: That was so liberating and it was just so good to open them. Even if it was just to put them to one side.

Sharon: Shop-for-life bags, them big bags, I had three of them full of letters that’s not even been opened. And yeah — and Carol — and Carol and Katherine said, ​‘Don’t worry, we’ll sort through ​‘em.’

Fact Find appointment

Tanya: Once you have all your paperwork together, your Debt Coach will come back for a second visit. They’ll take you through a Fact Find where we collect information that we need about your debts and financial situation. Once we have everything we need, our head office team will create your budget and look at what options are available for your situation. Your Debt Coach will then meet with you again to explain what options you have for getting out of debt. If there’s more than one, they’ll tell you the pros and cons of each and help you make the very best decision.

Sharon: They gave me all the options, they gave me everything, every inch of the way.

Maurice: It was a case of, ​‘Here are your options’.

Reg and Janice: It makes you very grateful, and very humble, that people are doing that to help you.

Working together

Tanya: As you work your way out of debt, there might be some challenges along the way. If this happens, just remember that we’re on your side whenever you need our help and that you’re working towards that amazing day when you’ll become debt free.

With some options you might choose, there’s a possibility that your credit rating could be impacted. Of course, that’s if it hasn’t already been impacted by your debts. This is usually just a side effect of getting out of debt, and our clients generally agree it’s worth it for the hope of a debt free future.

Next steps

Tanya: Once you have your budget and have decided on your option for getting out of debt, your Debt Coach will explain the next steps on how CAP will support you in your journey. The thousands of clients we’ve already helped tell us that this takes away a massive amount of stress that they were dealing with before they came to CAP.

Hazel: ​‘If you get any phone calls, tell them CAP’s dealing with it.’ I wasn’t bothered with anybody again. And the relief! That was — was just wonderful.

Playing your part

Tanya: So what we need you to do is to play your part too. It’s really important you send us all the information that we ask so that we can move forward with your case and sort out your debts. It’s really important you answer our phone calls, read our letters and respond promptly so we can keep you on your journey to becoming debt free.

Maurice: All you have to do is — is be honest, tell the truth, invest your time, work with CAP and they will work with you.

Tanya: If you do your bit, we’ll do our bit. And working together we can absolutely be a winning team.

Debt free

Tanya: We see hundreds of people go debt free every single month through CAP and we know that with time and support, it’ll be your turn to answer the call where we say, ​‘Great news, you’re debt free!’

Tracey: I’m debt free! And I’m running round, you know, jumping round my flat going, ​‘Yay!’

Lorraine: He was more excited than I was as well. We were both, like, on the phone going, ​‘Yay!’ It was such a relief.

Christina: When you’ve not got the debt, you’ve not got the worry you’ve not got the tenseness. It’s just this brill — it is — really it was like I unzip myself and that’s the old Christina there and this is the new Christina here because I’m just not that person anymore.

Maurice: There is a way forward, there is a way out. Don’t put your head in the sand. Just, try it, you know, you’ve got nothing to lose!