We were approached about a single mum who has divorced her abusive husband. She has been left with debts that relate back to the marriage, some of the debts not even hers. Her ex husband has deliberately arranged things with his work so that he looks on paper as if he is not earning enough to pay child maintenance. She was receiving tax credits, but then a malicious report was made to tax credits about her, and so they stopped her tax credits payments. This was unexpected and she needed to have money for food, so borrowed on one of these payday loans, which she is now struggling to repay, especially as tax credits haven’t as yet reinstated her payments.
We agreed to send across £150 to allow her to be able to buy food for herself and her children, and this money will hopefully tide her over until her payments restart. We advised that she should investigate looking into a debt relief order, so that she could be free of the debt.