Libbi’s Story

The month before the first lockdown, I decided to get a short term payday loan.  I had only made one repayment when I broke my ankle skateboarding (kids - don’t try that at home) lockdown happened, and my job was only giving me 3 hours per week.  For more than a month, I had no idea that I would be eligible for JobKeeper and didn’t know how to meet the repayments.

I panicked and tried to ignore the debt, but that made me feel sick.  Every time they tried to direct debit the money, I would be charged a $15 dishonour fee by the lender (as well as another one by my bank. I was also being charged 4% each month which was on top of the 20% application fee.

Sharlene explained that I could ring the lender and tell them my situation.  The direct debits stopped, and so did the fees, and I made an arrangement I could afford until JobKeeper came through again.  Without knowing I had the power to negotiate a payment plan, I would have ended up paying them a lot more and getting a black mark on my credit rating, which I am happy to say wasn’t affected because I got onto it early.