"Left with 90 bucks to survive": how Aimy got her debts down to one repayment

When she and her then partner set up a house together, the costs arrived all at once, and a fair bit of it went on debts, including her mum's credit cards.

"You know how things are when you have like a new house and you have to buy these things" she says. Her mum's credit cards helped pay "for our furniture and things and like pavings, solars, like all those housing things".

But the cost of that new furniture was spread across credit cards, Afterpay, Zip, Latitude. She had been knocked back for credit before, on a Latitude card. Downloading WeMoney was her way of trying to get her life back on track. "I downloaded and then I was like, just to see how am I supposed to do with like, you know, all the credit card bills that I've been piling up," she says.

Why her repayments weren't reducing her debts

Aimy gets paid fortnightly, and every payday followed the same story. "Every time the income gets in my bank account, it just goes into like too many ways," she says.

She was making her repayments but the debt wasn’t moving "It's going on for interest rate instead of like going on the money itself. More than like 50% goes for the interest already, and I don't think I can work more to like pay on top of it, because I have different accounts on different companies."

Keeping track of it all was a job in itself. She would open Afterpay to see what was owed. "Within 15 days I have this much amount of money that I have to pay back to them," she says. "It's like me going between apps and calculators, be like, okay, now left with like how much, like 90 bucks to survive until the next pay."

The idea she kept circling back to was one debt instead of several. What she wanted was to owe "one company at a time. Instead of like, you know, like two, three different companies that I borrowed the money from."

Using WeMoney to consolidate debts from multiple companies

"What else to lose? I have nothing in my bank anyway," she says when recalling how she applied for the loan. "And I maxed out all my credit cards."

The application led to a page of matched lenders, each with an approval chance. She did not quite believe what she saw there. "I know that I'm in so much debts and like my income was so low," she says. The scores seemed too good for someone in her position. She applied anyway. "Like I can try my luck. Like if they approve, that's nice."

The lender's checks dug into her transactions and had to email the lender confirming she would close her old accounts if the loan was approved. Overall she found the application "pretty good and clear".

One repayment instead of three

The two or three companies taking a slice of every pay are now a single repayment to a single lender. "I feel like it's great because like I can just remember one thing," she says. She is not someone who checks emails, the ones that warn "just letting you know, within three days you'll be" charged. Now there is nothing to miss. "So now I don't have like to go through like all like, oh shoots. I have this and that."

See what one repayment could look like for you

If your repayments are scattered and it feels like the balance never moves, it can help to see the numbers in one place. Try the WeMoney debt consolidation calculator for an estimate of what a single repayment could look like, then create a free WeMoney account to get a view based on your actual situation.

Disclaimer: Aimy’s experience is her own and is not a guarantee of a similar result. The information in this article is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether it is appropriate for your circumstances and seek independent advice before making a financial decision.