Jackie’s story

Jackie came to Citizens Advice Watford for help with her debts. Jackie had worked as a carer, but during the pandemic her work stopped and Jackie was unable to cover her family’s household costs on Universal Credit, leading her to take out loans and use several credit cards. Struggling with a large amount of debt building up, Jackie’s mental health had been severely impacted and she had become very unwell.

We helped Jackie put a budget plan together and also to request a full credit report showing all the outstanding non-priority debt so that a plan could be made to tackle the debts.

First, because it is a priority debt, Jackie was helped to arrange a repayment plan for her Council Tax arrears. Second, a Winter Fuel Grant was secured which Jackie was able to use to clear debt with her energy supplier. Acting on Jackie’s behalf, we also wrote to all of her creditors asking them to consider writing off her debt on the grounds of deteriorating health and loss of income due to covid-19, providing medical evidence from her GP and a Standard Financial Statement showing that Jackie had no surplus money to pay off her debts. This was successful and Jackie was able to set up minimal level repayment plans for each debt. The creditors also agreed to freeze interest on her credit card accounts.

Jackie was very relieved to get her finances back under control and immensely grateful that her creditors were no longer harassing her, which she described as an amazing outcome.