“I knew I was in debt, but didn’t know how bad it was until I spoke to Kingdom Resources”,says Carron, a young,intelligent, business studies student.

Carron contacted Kingdom Resources following a budget advice talk given at her church youth group, by Kingdom Resources Manager, John Exton.

“I was very sceptical at first about what the budget advice would be about”, she explained, “I thought it [a budget] would be really complicated. But we had lots of fun and massive discussions.”

The session made Carron think about her own finances. She owed money in a number of different places but hadn’t really given it much thought. She owed money on her credit card, she had a computer loan and a TV on hire purchase, plus she also owed her parents money.

“I always paid my bills on time, but unexpectedly the bank made an error and paid an automatic payment twice in one month and gave me an overdraft to correct it rather than returning my money,” recalled Carron.
“But it wasn’t until I sat down with Julie, a Kingdom Resources budget advisor, that I realised the mess I was in,” she explained.

“Julie got me to check how much holiday pay I was about to get. I had a lot more time over the holidays without pay than I had thought. My debt ended up being about $6,000!”

Carron was granted an interest free loan from Kingdom Resources. She was also given extra work to help her manage over the holiday period.

Abridged from Kingdom Resources newsletter, Autumn 2006.