The stress of my situation could have killed me

‘I was getting by but my situation escalated when I moved house. Everything took its toil on me. I was trying to catch up but I had old bills to pay and new bills kept coming in. One day I got a big council tax bill even though I’d only just moved in. I couldn’t understand it. The property was falling apart and I had to do all the repairs myself. I asked for proof about the council tax but they just told me I had to pay it.

‘I contacted the Law Centre and from the moment I did that, I knew they were there for me. I sent them everything and they took over every problem. There were loads of bills from previous tenants because the energy supplier hadn’t changed my meter so Swabra contacted them to change me over to a pre-payment meter. I’m a single father on benefits so being able to pre-pay really helps.

‘Swabra gave me so much time and helped me understand which bills were the priority. She sorted out the problem with the council tax and helped me work out repayments for the non-priority debts. Seriously, I never knew you could work something out with suppliers!

‘Going to the Law Centre was the best choice I ever made. Everything worked out perfectly. They balanced everything out for me. I feel so reassured: they motivated me and built up my confidence. My financial situation is much better. I have money to feed my family. I can move on with my life. I’m so happy.

‘These people turned my life around. They have been like a mother, father, brother, sister to me. Their time and effort will go down in my book of history. I will be grateful to the Law Centre for the rest of my life. I will never forget how they helped me.‘

Daniel* is a single father of young children. He came to the Law Centre with a number of debts, including gas and electric arrears, council tax, credit card bills and benefits overpayments and was struggling to meet the repayments. Our debt adviser helped him identify his priority debts so he could pay off his council tax and helped arrange a pre-payment meter for his gas and electricity. As a result his anxiety has significantly reduced and he has a clear path ahead for repaying his debts.

*not his real name