‘Hidden’ gambling can soon spiral out of control
money@mirror.co.uk
BLAME
“People blame the victim, but they are targeted the same as those taking on payday loans and high-cost credit.”
Danny Cheetham lost most of his wages to gambling. Despite having two jobs, he still couldn’t make ends meet. He ended up trapped in a cycle of earning a wage, gambling it away, then borrowing from payday lenders and finding himself deeper in debt.
He says: “Over the past decade I’ve had a fair share of hurdles to overcome, from addictions to grief and debts that felt unbeatable.
“Each month I would have the same determination to make it different. I would set out spreadsheets a week before payday, allocating money to each debt and expense. But I’d be forced to turn to payday lenders to make it through the month. I ended up with about 26 loans on the go, from all sorts of lenders. When one said no, I simply went to another.”
Danny, 29, from Manchester, adds: “When you’re broke and have to live day to day, the cost of normal life is against you. It actually costs more to live life if you are struggling financially. That makes it impossible to get on top of your finances. Energy costs more when you get put on a prepaid meter and then get trapped on a standard tariff, while others can use comparison sites to find better deals.
“My daily bus ride to work cost me £4.80 a day. If I’d been able to buy a monthly pass I’d have saved £74. But the large cost to buy a monthly pass felt too much or a burden in case any of my lenders got threatening over repayments.
“It’s the same as being unable to pay ahead, buy in bulk or even spread the cost using finance – they all come with added penalties because you are poor or don’t have the perfect credit score.
“If an appliance broke I would be left with limited options – catalogues/store finance at extortionate interest rates – with the same items costing me at least double the amount of a person who can afford to buy up front.
“I hit rock bottom when my repayments hit £2,000 per month. I had to find a way to get out.
“Keeping my evergrowing burden quiet, as I couldn’t admit my situation to friends and family, was leaving me anxious and I’d lost all my confidence. My debts were totally beyond my means.
“Then I started to use the phrase ‘be honest’ more. I decided there shouldn’t be any stigma in holding your hands up and saying, ‘I need help’.
“This was a major first step and has enabled me to beat my gambling addiction and gradually take back control of my life. It has taken a long time to feel confident enough to say, ‘I will be debt-free before I’m 30 – and I’ll stay there’.”
It was because the poorest are being forced to pay the most for basics, bills and borrowing that we launched our Fair Credit for All campaign with Hollywood actor and activist Michael Sheen and his End High Cost Credit Alliance. We want to create affordable Brave Danny faced up to his problems and fairer credit for all and to help tackle the issues that force people into the hands of high-cost lenders.
One of the organisations that has signed up to our campaign is Fair By Design. Director Lucie Russell says: “It’s bad enough dealing with an all-encompassing debt problem, as Danny has described, but the fact that the loans industry takes advantage of this vulnerability is reprehensible.
“High-cost loans are just one of many poverty premiums which mean that people who are poor end up paying more – a situation that is completely unfair and unjust. Danny has done an amazing job turning his life around, but it shouldn’t just be down to people like Danny struggling with ways to avoid the poverty premium.
“As supporters of the Fair Credit for All Campaign we want to see businesses doing the responsible thing and making the cost of products fair for everyone, once and for all.”
When you are broke, life costs so much more than it does the well-off