‘How I paid off £27k of debt in under three years'

For years Katie Agbebi, 35, from Liverpool, spent and spent. But she decided to tackle her huge debt head on – with life-changing results

- KATE GRAHAM

Staring down at the huge number in front of me – an eye-watering £27,000 – it felt unreal. How was it possible to owe so much? How could I have let it get this bad?

Then I thought about the deliveries of clothes I’d hidden behind the sofa, the £1,000 bed we’d bought on a payment plan, all the holidays we’d booked without a thought about how to pay for them… For a minute I felt completely overwhelmed. Then fight mode kicked in.

“I’m going to face this head on,” I thought, determination flooding through me. “Whatever we have to do, however long it takes, we’ll pay off this debt – and never get into it again.”

I was 18 when I walked into my local bank in Liverpool and left with my first credit card. I hadn’t read the details and had no idea about the repayments. All I knew was that I could start shopping with “my” £500 – result!

I started my office administration job a few months later and my credit limit immediately jumped to £3,000. “It’s brilliant,” I said to my boyfriend Marseilles, now 39, who I’d been with for a year. I was earning £13,000 and still living at home with my parents. They covered all my utility bills so I could really splash out. Each month when the credit card bill came, I made the minimum repayment and then thought nothing of it.

Marseilles and I never planned a baby so soon, but in 2008 our son Marcus was born. I was besotted, but at 21 I felt the pressure as a young mum. I wanted to show everyone that I was doing well. Looking at Marcus in his pricey buggy and new clothes, I felt proud. “So what if it’s on credit?” I shrugged.