Everything was like a puzzle I couldn’t sort out

‘It was terrifying being in debt because I kept getting all these texts saying if I don’t pay they’ll send enforcement to us. I was so afraid. I couldn’t handle it anymore because we’d lost our home and my ex-husband lost his job, and social services were involved. Everything was like a puzzle that I couldn’t sort out. 

‘I’d been everywhere to try to get some help: to the council and many other places. Then Citizens Advice recommended the Law Centre, and I went to the office and met Andrew, and then Mark.  

‘It was very helpful, because it was someone saying they can take a look at my case and check it for me. It was someone who said they can help me.  

‘Now the debt is sorted and gone off from my shoulders, I feel a lot better. I can pay for what my children need. I’m really happy. 

‘I definitely recommend to other people that they ask for help; because when you’re under the debt and all these other problems, you need other people: you can’t sort it out yourself.’ 

Yani is a lone parent of young children, who’d recently left an abusive relationship. As well as working with social services to keep her family safe, Yani was struggling to deal with problem debt, and was overwhelmed by repeated texts and phone calls from a debt enforcement agency for council tax debt. 

Our debt team helped Yani arrange affordable debt repayments to the council, including the removing of liability order and summons costs. They also applied to Thames Water Fund to successfully write-off water debt that the family had no way of paying back.