The Debtfix five-week debt bootcamp kicks off on Monday 9 May, 2022.

Sign up for this free guided programme, now.

Privacy is a funny old thing. Some of us don’t want anyone knowing our business, whereas others happily share every what, who, when and where about our lives.

Often it comes down to our trust in an organisation that has our information, and for some unfathomable reason, many people trust social media platforms more than secure websites.

From 9-14 May 2022 the Privacy Commissioner is holding public online events, investigating Privacy: The Foundation of Trust.

Some of the Debtfix Crew are old enough to remember taking a few coins along to school and handing them over with our bank book and a deposit slip to slowly build up a wee nest egg. We learnt about saving for a rainy day, earning interest on our meagre bank balance and maybe we got into the culture of New Zealand’s banking system.

However, no one talked to us about debt.

Moving halfway around the world takes a lot of planning, courage, and determination, which are also great qualities for a Debtfix Navigator.

Our newest Crew mate, Bianca du Bois, came to New Zealand with her husband and their two young children in 2017.

She says she likes a challenge, which is highly likely when starting over with a young family in a new country.

Recently, wild weather hit many parts of New Zealand letting us know winter is on the way and the Debtfix Crew thought it was time to get planning to reduce the risk of expensive disasters.

When your neighbourhood is flooding or the power goes off for a couple of days, the last thing you need to worry about is how to pay for takeaways to feed the family.

The Crew likes to ensure people have contingency money in their budgets for the unexpected and there has been a lot of unexpected during the last couple of years.

You’ve taken a quick loan to buy a new car, to cover the cost of a trip overseas, or even to consolidate your other loans and the finance company asks, “Would you like insurance with that?”

The add-on purchase may not have crossed your mind but when you think about it, the extra security of an insurance that covers debt repayments may sound like a good idea.

The person selling you the loan may imply it is compulsory to buy insurance but what are your rights and what are their obligations?

When you are just making do, all it takes is one serious accident to suddenly mean you can’t make do. For hardworking Duane, it was a back injury that took him out of his timber mill job and while he recuperated his ACC income was 20 per cent less than usual.

Throw in a global pandemic when he was just getting back into fulltime work, along with his wife losing her job, and you have a seemingly insurmountable financial blizzard.

When signing up to study at a tertiary level thoughts of career prospects, learning about subjects you’re really interested in and student parties are most likely top of mind. For most New Zealanders, university or polytechnic life also means signing up for a student loan.

Debtfix advocates paying off the most expensive debts first and the advantage of a student loan is that while students remain in New Zealand, they have an interest free loan. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that.

There is nothing like the relief we feel when a problem is resolved, and we have choices about our future.

The Debtfix Crew has seen it often and they know people do move on when they get debt under control. They love nothing more than seeing a person turn their life around and move on to a more positive future – all because of a debt solution.

Popping into the Debtfix office to deliver some kelp salt to a Crew member inspired Josie Jackson to apply for a job with the social enterprise that helps people take control of their debt.

Josie is a local legend, well known at the Matakana Farmers’ Market where she sells her divine range of nut butters and edible seaweed salts. Her philosophy is to live sustainably and to help, whether she’s helping the planet or people so it’s not surprising Josie was intrigued by the work going on in the Debtfix office.

Varied roles helping people and the planet have provided a new member of the Debtfix Crew with great experience to support clients when they are ready to reduce their debt.

When Karen Ludeman describes all the different careers she has had, you sort of wonder how this woman has managed to fit everything in. The theme through all her jobs was, and still is, a commitment to making something better, from cultivating an organic orchard or giving supportive guidance as a nutritionist and fitness coach.

That’s another Christmas done, the kids are back to school (hopefully for a full year) and the working year should be in full swing (Covid traffic lights willing).

How’s your credit card feeling? Is it suffering from Paywave fatigue? How about that buy now, pay later account? Has later arrived much sooner than expected?

If you are feeling the effects of post-holiday-debt-disorder you are not alone and now is the time to make one small change to prevent the same cash-tastrophe next Christmas.