How WeMoney helped Michelle clear a payday loan she had carried for four years

Michelle's story at a glance

• Member: Michelle, 59 (SA), in permanent customer service work for the state government, living in Adelaide
• Before WeMoney: a payday loan she had been rolling over for about four years, and a credit card of about $8,500 at a high rate, costing her roughly $700 a month between them
• What she consolidated: both, into one loan through a lender matched in WeMoney
• How WeMoney helped: showed her three or four consolidation options at rates far below what she was paying, with terms she could model before applying
• Her experience: she ignored the first few emails because she was sure she would be knocked back, then applied entirely online and was approved
• After: one repayment of $450 a month, which is more than she has to pay, because she is choosing to clear it early
• Next: France, for her sixtieth birthday

Before WeMoney

Michelle is 59, single, an aunt to seven, and after years in and out of the workforce she is now permanently employed in customer service for the state government in Adelaide.

Around COVID, it came apart. She was in and out of work and renting, a redundancy payout had not had enough tax withheld and left her with a tax debt she did not see coming, and two credit cards were maxed. She declared bankruptcy owing somewhere over $28,000.

What she remembers from that period is not the number.

"I was worried whether I could pay the rent, whether I would be able to feed the dog."

Rebuilding afterwards, she took what she thought she could get. That meant a credit card at a high rate, about $8,500 on it, and a payday loan. She had borrowed $2,000 four or five years earlier to put her family up for a nephew's wedding, and in her head it was a two-year debt. Four years on it was still there, because every time she got ahead the lender told her she could borrow again.

"I never really paid the stupid thing off. They are a trap."

Between the two she reckons she was paying around $700 a month, and had no savings behind her at all.

How she found us

Michelle was already checking her credit score, trying to see where she stood after the bankruptcy. WeMoney came to her through an ad alongside that, and she downloaded the app to try to build a budget.

What she found was that seeing the score was not the same as knowing what to do about it.

"All the credit score does is tell you where your credit score's at. It doesn't give you any real structure."

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How WeMoney helped

Then the emails started: had she thought about consolidating, here are three or four options. Michelle did not act on the first one, or the second.

"I won't qualify for any of that."

She is clear about why she waited, and it was not the app. It was the assumption that bankruptcy had closed the door permanently, plus a reasonable wariness of anything financial arriving by email.

"Once you have a hurdle financially, like bankruptcy, you're like, oh, I can never borrow again."

By about the third or fourth notification, with the payday loan still sitting there, she decided the worst that could happen was a no. She compared the matched options and chose Plenti, not only on the rate but on the term: they let her model how much she wanted to borrow over how long and see what it looked like before committing.

She applied online. Michelle does not drive, so identification is often the sticking point for her, and the lender accepted her passport without fuss. A couple of weeks later the approval came through and she was asked where she wanted the money to go. The lender remained responsible for the credit decision, the contract and the payout. WeMoney's role was to show her the options and let her compare them before she continued.

The one hard part was not the loan. Closing the payday account took several calls, first being told she owed more, then that she had overpaid and it could not be closed, and it only happened once she mentioned the ombudsman.

After WeMoney

The payday loan and the credit card became one repayment. Michelle pays $450 a month, which is deliberately more than she is required to pay, because she wants the seven-year term to finish closer to six. She can adjust it down again in the app if a month is tight, without a phone call or paperwork, and she says she will probably put her next pay rise into it.

Compared with roughly $700 a month across the old debts, she estimates the change is worth $300 to $400 a month to her. A lower monthly repayment does not automatically mean a lower total cost, and the new loan has its own term, rate and fees. What it gave her was room.

"I'm preempting bills rather than being swallowed up by them."

She has savings for the first time and a buffer at the end of the fortnight. She has also booked and paid for something she genuinely did not think would happen: a month off, and France for her sixtieth birthday, with champagne in Champagne.

"I honestly didn't think I'd have the money for this trip."

Asked to describe the whole process in one word, she said "easy", then added that at one point it felt too easy. Her only regret is the four years she spent not believing the emails.

"I just wish I paid attention sooner. I don't want to think about the amount of interest I was paying for no reason."

Find out what you actually qualify for

If a past bankruptcy, default or bad patch has convinced you that nothing better is available, it is worth checking rather than assuming. 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 against what you are paying now.

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

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