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Case Study

We spoke with Claire on the 1^st of July 2008; she was referred onto us by her mortgage advisor.  She was struggling to keep up her payments on her mortgage, utilities, credit card bills and loans.  She felt that she was running out of options and was worried about keeping up her mortgage payments and was afraid she may lose her home. 

  On our initial consultation with Claire we found that she was paying £498 to her unsecured creditors, which consisted of 2 credit cards, 1 loan, 1 catalogue and 1 store card.  She was employed and was taking home £1300 per month and her essential expenditures like her mortgage, utility bills, car and food was amounting to £1050 per month.  This meant that Claire only had £250.00 left to pay her unsecured credit commitments so she had a shortfall of £248 per month.

  We advised Claire that her best option would be to join a debt management plan with Refresh.  On a debt management plan she would pay £250.00 towards her plan every month because this is all she can realistically afford.  On the plan she would pay the £250 to us each month and we would negotiate with her creditors to accept lower payments and also to stop interest and charges on her accounts. 

  Claire made her first payment towards her plan on the 25^th of July 2008 and we have been administering her plan since this time.  All her creditors have accepted our offers of payments and have stopped interest and charges on her account.

This is what Claire had to say about our service:

When I first called refresh I felt really bad and ashamed at the situation I was in. As soon as I plucked up the courage to call them I spoke to a lovely helpful & understanding lady called Jenny, she really put my mind at rest and did not blame me or made me feel bad she just really helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now I pay a managed amount per month an amount that I can afford. When I started with refresh a few months after that, I was made redundant and I was worried about payments etc as I have only just started with them, but Jenny (my account manager) was very understanding and really helped me. Every time I call refresh everyone is very very helpful and are nice to deal with. I have recommend refresh to a lot of people as it has really helped me. I would recommend refresh.

* name has been changed for privacy purposes