How WeMoney helped Deborah consolidate after two banks turned her down

Deborah's story at a glance

• Member: Deborah, 59 (QLD), a palliative care health worker in Brisbane who rents and plans to retire in about seven years
• Before WeMoney: a credit card, two loans, and Afterpay and Zip balances, all leaving on different dates, plus a car her mechanic refused to keep repairing
• What she consolidated: all of it, into one loan through a lender matched in WeMoney
• How WeMoney helped: matched her with a lender after two banks had declined her without giving a reason
• Her experience: approved in about five days, funded a couple of weeks later, all handled online from her computer
• After: two debts instead of six, a reliable car bought outright with what was left, and savings for the first time in years
• Not perfect: she could not connect her new lender inside the app, so she cancelled her subscription. We have that feedback

Before WeMoney

Deborah is 59, lives in Brisbane, and works in palliative care for Queensland Health. Her job is permanent, her income is stable and her super is being managed with retirement in mind. On paper she was fine.

In practice, last year took her apart. Her rent went up sharply, her housemate moved out, and her mother became seriously ill and then passed away. Underneath all of it were a credit card, a couple of loans, Afterpay and Zip, each with its own amount and date.

"I felt like I was working just to pay all these debts."

Then her car started dying. She needs it for work, she kept pouring money into it, and eventually her mechanic told her he did not want to work on it any more.

Her financial adviser, who looks after her super, put it plainly at a six-month review: if she wanted to reach her retirement plan, she needed to deal with the debt. So Deborah went looking.

How she found us

The first attempts went badly. Her own bank of about thirty years no longer offers personal loans, so she applied elsewhere. Two other banks declined her. Neither told her why.

She was on a good wage, in a permanent government position, with a long employment history and a good credit record, and she could not make it add up.

"I was just another number."

She found WeMoney through a credit score app she was already using while looking into debt consolidation. Before doing anything else, she searched for us and read what came back.

"I went to Google and did a Google search, tell me about WeMoney, and then just kept going to the different links and reading about the company."

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How WeMoney helped

Deborah was matched with OurMoneyMarket. She did the application from her computer rather than her phone, uploaded her documents in one sitting because she keeps her payslips organised on a USB stick, and used the chat function when she had a question.

Her comparison point was the bank applications that had just failed.

"Applying online through the banks was harder than it was through WeMoney."

By her account the loan was approved in about five days and the money landed a couple of weeks after that. That timing is Deborah's individual experience rather than a standard approval or funding time. The lender remained responsible for the credit decision, the contract and the payout. WeMoney's role was to show her the matched option and help her get to it.

She consolidated everything: the loans, the card balances, the buy now pay later accounts and the outstanding bills. What was left over, about $16,000, went on a reliable used car, bought outright.

What did not work

Deborah is not uncritical, and the part she raised first was a problem with our app, not with the loan.

After settlement she subscribed to WeMoney Pro and connected her accounts, but she could not add her new lender. That meant the one debt that mattered most was missing from her balances, so the app could not show her a true picture of what was going in and out. She submitted it through the in-app suggestion feature and did not hear back, kept checking whether it had been added, and eventually cancelled the subscription and deleted the app. She also found she had to refresh it manually.

"There's no point in having an app that's only giving you half the story."

She was clear about the rest of it: she liked the payment calendar, the balances view and the community forums, and she says she would use the app again if that lender could be connected. She now budgets by hand in the notes app on her phone, and redoes the totals every time she pays a bill.

That feedback is hers, it is fair, and it is on record here rather than edited out.

After WeMoney

Deborah now has two debts rather than six: the consolidation loan and her credit card. The repayment is direct debited on the evening of her payday, so she does not have to think about it.

"The money's there, they take it out and it just works."

She is saving for the first time in a long time, in separate accounts she keeps for holidays. She has taken one trip and is about to take another. She puts an extra amount into her super each month, pays her bills on time, and drives a car that starts.

"I'm financially stable for the first time in quite some time."

Her plan runs to retirement in about seven years, with the loan cleared before she gets there.

A decline from one lender is not the whole market

If a bank has declined you without much explanation, that decision reflects one lender's criteria, not every lender's. Connecting your accounts in WeMoney can show your debts and repayments together, and you can then review consolidation options you may be eligible for and compare the repayment, rate, term, fees and total amount repayable before deciding whether to continue.

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Deborah's approval, timing and figures are her individual experience. Eligibility and outcomes vary by member and lender, and her story is not a promise that another person will be approved or receive the same result.

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