'I never thought I'd be alive to pay back my huge debt'

[Northerner]

Chris Lynch, 41, was a hard-drinking student when his debts began to build up and his life started to spiral out of control.

At one point he was was £35,000 in debt - and that's when anxiety and depression took hold.

"I didn't think I'd be alive long enough to pay if off. I could easily have ended up homeless or ending my life," he says.

The charity Mental Health UK says Chris's experience is not unusual - up to four million people could be at risk of poor mental health brought on by money problems.

In its recent survey of 2,000 people, many reported feeling stressed, anxious, isolated and depressed by financial worries and one in six admitted to having suicidal thoughts because of them.

While just under a third of people did not talk to anyone about their problems, half said they wouldn't know where to go for help.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44725897

 

[mikeyB]

So he was £35,000 in debt before he developed anxiety and depression? Big surprise. How do you treat this anxiety and depression? Give him £35,000. It’s not rocket science.

Then you make him attend a money management course.

People experiencing poverty because of the government’s benefit cuts are an entirely different matter. But then, they have no way of getting £35,000 in debt.

 

[Jeffrey Forward]

Nice plan, but I have a sister who is now 47 and her whole life she has got into debt, and my mum would bail her out to avoid the bailiffs.
despite being a well paid model at one point, she would play on the heart strings of my divorced parents and use this to her advantage.

My mum virtually raised and paid for everything for her son, even funded him going to university (New Comp, Laptop, Mobile Phone, High end camera,etc).

That was 6 years ago and when he went to uni so my sister didn't run up rent debt she moved in with my mum, and the son lasted 4 months at uni and bailed out leaving around £5k's worth of belonging my mum paid for.

My mum then suffered a brain tumour while my sister lived there and my sister exploited this to her own end.
I would now put the current debt owned to my mum at around £50k.

So just settling someones debt won't fix the problem, It so easy to get into debt and then say "Oh I can't cope, and some kind of big brother gives you a helping hand".

It's a cruel world. However if you talk to your lenders and speak with people who can help you out with debt recovery, through baby steps and breaking it down into easy to swallow pieces you can make it back.

Don't forget its people not paying back money borrowed that get's the country in a mess in the first place, and then we all have to help pay back with government bank bailouts.

 

[Northerner]

Very sorry to hear about your family's situation @Jeffrey Forward

 

[Jeffrey Forward]

Hey life is life.
I look at her and her son sitting around thinking the world owe's them a living and I look at my daughter.
She graduated from uni with a 1st in Digital Media Development, Woman in IT is very fashionable at the moment so she has a great job with a fantastic income, and her and her fella have just joined the housing market with a super tidy 2 bed semi with parking for 2 car's, good size garden.

I also have a good job in London and as my kids have grown up, well my son enters his final year at uni. My wife and I have time and the money for all our hobbies/holidays 🙂

Yes I had it hard in the beginning and no bailout because my sister needed so much help, but I turned out all the better for it.

 

[HOBIE]

At one time I had 3 mortgages in place. Try it. You have to work hard for that.🙂