How WeMoney helped Theresa turn a loan and buy now pay later into one repayment

Theresa's story at a glance

• Member: Theresa, 57 (VIC), an executive assistant at a law firm who shares a house in Melbourne
• Before WeMoney: a personal loan at about $200 a fortnight, an Afterpay balance she had run to its $4,000 limit, and a credit card she was paying down
• What she consolidated: the personal loan and the buy now pay later balance into one loan through a lender matched in WeMoney
• How WeMoney helped: gave her one view of what she was actually spending, then matched her with a lender she says she would never have found on her own
• Her experience: she checked the lender through Google and AI tools before applying, and says the money landed within 48 hours
• After: one repayment of $260 a fortnight, and room to put about $300 a fortnight towards a trip she had been putting off
• Next: a deposit on her first place of her own

Before WeMoney

Theresa is 57, works as an executive assistant and team coordinator at a large law firm, and shares a house in Melbourne. She has been married and divorced, and has no children.

Her debt did not start with her spending. It started in a marriage she describes as financially abusive, alongside gambling. She earned more, so the loans were taken out in her name. When she left, she took the debt with her rather than fight over it.

For three or four years after that, she covered every payment on time and it cost her everything else.

"I was never late with my payments, but I was just always having to rob Peter to pay Paul."

She ended up unwell. Two of the banks would accommodate her, but the largest lender would not, and the interest kept building. Just before COVID, on the advice of a friend, she declared bankruptcy.

Years later she was working again, earning well, and rebuilding a credit history from nothing. A credit card came first, then a personal loan. By the time she found WeMoney she was carrying that loan at about $200 a fortnight, a credit card of about $2,000, and an Afterpay balance she had let run to its $4,000 limit, which at its peak was taking around $1,000 a fortnight.

What she wanted was straightforward. She wanted a holiday, and she wanted to stop doing the fortnightly arithmetic.

How she found us

Her housemate and friends had been talking about apps that show you what you are actually spending. That was exactly the question in Theresa's head, so she searched for one.

"I just googled and WeMoney came up as being the best option."

She is a careful researcher. Before she signs up to anything she checks it herself, and she uses AI assistants alongside a plain search to ask questions about who a company is.

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How WeMoney helped

Theresa connected her information and WeMoney showed her the options she was matched with. Latitude was one of them, and it was not a lender she knew.

"That's where I found out about them, which I wouldn't have known about them beforehand."

She did the same checks on the lender that she does on everything: two different AI tools and a Google search, then the application. The lender came back quickly by email and text, clarified a couple of things, and Theresa says the money was in her account within 48 hours of applying. That timing is her individual experience rather than a standard funding time.

She consolidated the personal loan and the buy now pay later balance. She chose to keep her credit card open rather than close it, because she was about to travel and wanted access to it. The lender remained responsible for the credit decision, the contract and the payout. WeMoney's role was to show her the matched option and let her compare it before she continued.

Theresa is candid about the parts that did not suit her. She found the app's notifications and emails too frequent and removed it from her phone, and she would like a simpler interface. She keeps a budget spreadsheet she follows religiously and says she never used the app to its full capacity.

After WeMoney

The loan and the Afterpay balance became one repayment of $260 a fortnight. The Afterpay account that had been taking around $1,000 a fortnight at its worst is down to about $500 with a couple of payments left, and she has since worked out that it was linked to everyday spending she was not tracking.

She is honest that consolidating did not fix her spending on its own. She has used buy now pay later again in the lead-up to her trip, and says that if she did it again she would reduce that limit rather than leave it available. What changed is the room she has to work with. She has been putting about $300 a fortnight towards the holiday, and she opened a second savings account with no card attached so that money is deliberately harder to reach.

Mostly what changed is the running total in her head.

"I'm not always continually thinking, I've got to make this payment, that payment."

Asked to describe WeMoney as a person, she landed on "a fun accountant. An accountant with a personality." Asked what she would tell herself six years ago, in the middle of the bankruptcy: "It's okay, just do it. And you will get through it and you will feel so much relief."

Her long-term goal is a deposit on a place of her own. She has never owned property, and she has started talking to a mortgage broker about what that looks like at her age.

"I'm not ashamed to have debt anymore."

See the whole position first

If several repayments are leaving on different dates and you are doing the maths every payday, connecting your accounts in WeMoney can show the balances together. 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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Theresa'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 receive the same rate, repayment or result.

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