My nightmare of £100k debt
‘On the outside people saw me as a successful woman, but on the inside I was falling to pieces’
A CELEBRITY life coach who gave advice to the nation on breakfast TV has told how £100,000 of crippling debts sent her own life into chaos.
Dawn Breslin racked up the debts after a major business deal collapsed at the same time as she’d spent thousands of pounds of savings renovating her Edinburgh home.
The life coach, who was once a regular on GMTV, was then hit with another financial blow from Edinburgh City Council, which demanded a £50,000 fee for controversial statutory repairs to her other property, a city centre flat.
The high-flying single mum went from having £100,000 of savings in the bank and a comfortable lifestyle, to shuffling pennies and pounds between credit cards and loans just to get by.
“I went from having £100,000 in the bank to £100,000 in debt,” she confessed.
“I had this reputation as a top UK life coach, I was an internationally well-known speaker. People saw me as this successful person. But on the inside, I was falling to pieces. It was terrifying.
“Some days, I would move 50p from one account to another to stop me from going overdrawn.
“There was no way of holding it together and I was so scared.
“I had a gorgeous house by the sea, a nice Audi convertible in the drive.
“But behind the scenes I was using credit cards and loans, anything to hold everything together.”
Dawn is now gradually paying back her debts – mostly to credit card companies and banks – after seeking support from a debt management specialist.
And she urged anyone else struggling to cope with financial problems to seek help as soon as possible.
She said: “Don’t be scared to call up a debt consolidation company. The call is confidential, you don’t need to give your name.
“Know the facts about how you can get out of your situation rather than enduring the terror of uncertainty.”
Dawn, who also worked as a consultant for EastEnders and Holby City, became the face of selfhelp on GMTV 10 years ago when she appeared regularly alongside Lorraine Kelly to offer viewers advice on how to cope with their problems.
She wrote a series of books which aimed to inspire readers to make the most of their life and became an international speaker.
However, as her business debts soared, she tried to keep afloat by borrowing from banks and credit cards.
And she was only too aware of the irony of being a leading life coach whose own life was spiralling out of control.
“I was knocking on every door I could, but no one seemed to be able to help,” she said.
“I had three credit cards with one bank, but they didn’t seem interested. It was terrible.
“I didn’t know what to do. I was a life coach who was supposed to be in control.
“I was worried about the shame and embarrassment my family would feel.”
As the stress took its toll, her health deteriorated and a worried colleague suggested she seek financial help.
Determined not to go bankrupt, Dawn called Manchester debt management company Gregory Pennington to ask for advice.
Within days, a plan was drawn up to help her begin repaying what she owed.
She now hopes to have cleared all of the £100,000 debt by 2020.
Dawn said: “I want to tell people about it now so others can see that there is a way out of being in debt.
“It was brutal. But in retrospect it taught me a lot. I used to just spend without thinking about it. I would shop for groceries in Marks & Spencer and bought nice clothes whenever I wanted.
“Now I find shops overwhelming. And I value simple things more than ever.”
She is now rebuilding her career as a life coach and is using her experiences of hitting rock bottom to help the clients she meets face to face and through her website www.dawnbreslin.co.uk to cope with stresses in their own lives.
“I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but in retrospect being in so much debt was actually a gift,” she added.
“I don’t spend as much as I once did. I value the simple things more and I’m happy.”