PayPlan - Customer Story

We’ve partnered with PayPlan to provide independent debt advice to our customers who find themselves in financial difficulty or need support to maximise their income.

Here, we look at one customer’s story of working with them…

Eloise Lewis* is unable to work due to ill health. She lives with her two adult daughters, who usually pay the rent, but due to Covid-19, neither of them have been working, causing financial worries.

Eloise had also got credit card debts of around £14,000. She'd tried to negotiate repayment of these in the past, but was still paying £315 per month. As a result, she was struggling and falling behind with her rent.

She also felt this wasn’t leaving her enough money each month to cover food costs, while her health was worsening and her finances meant she wasn’t able to keep up with activities she did to aid her health such as swimming or yoga.

This is when she turned to PayPlan for help. Eloise spoke to Gemma, who helped her build a realistic and sustainable budget.

Eloise had accrued a rent arrears of £633 and PayPlan helped her ensure these were cleared within six months by allocating £108.33 per month to paying them off.

After all Eloise’s other priorities were taken care of, she had just over £50 each month to contribute towards her unsecured creditors. This wasn’t enough to meet the contractual payments, so PayPlan proposed a Debt Management Plan which would enable Eloise to clear the debts over a longer period and at a more affordable rate.

Eloise said that her medical conditions are exacerbated by stress, which can leave her out of action for days. Having a plan that deals with creditors on her behalf takes away the worry of negotiating with creditors herself is a huge relief to her.

Additionally, PayPlan was able to prioritise a small payment in the budget towards Eloise’s activities that help with her health and general wellbeing.

Eloise is now on track to have her rent arrears cleared in the next few months, meaning she’ll be able to increase her payments to the Debt Management Plan, thus shortening her overall repayment term.

 

*Not our customer’s real name.