Testimonials

Kelly And Mark

Mark is a Project Officer and Kelly looks after the home.

"After becoming a single income family we found it extremely hard to manage our money. I was paid fortnightly and my husband was being paid monthly, and once my pay stopped coming in we were in dire need. We didn't have any savings, we had a mortgage to pay, car loan, lots of doctor, medication and hospital bills plus the usual bills that we had to run our home, cars, lives etcetera. We used to argue all the time about money — the lack of it," says Kelly. "It was stressful knowing that we were basically living pay to pay," Mark continues, "But after the meeting with MyBudget, I felt great. What they said was really positive… Right then and there they were able to put a whole budget together. They were like our personal accountant with empathy for us," explains Mark. "We do not argue anymore. We were given our budget and shown how to spread our money across the various expenses and debts that we had. With MyBudget's help we were able to increase our mortgage repayments, pay off our car loan and have savings after 12 months. We noticed that within four months we were no longer worried about where the money was coming from, and paying our bills was a breeze," says Kelly. "Communication with the staff at MyBudget has always been professional and helpful. Their customer service staff always offer a solution to any problem that may arise and are able to help you juggle any bills that are not in your budget allocation," says Mark. "Thanks to MyBudget we now own both of our cars, no longer have a mortgage and have no credit card debt," explains Kelly.

Jade

Jade is an Admissions Officer, and mother.

"Financial difficulty brings you down," says Jade. "You have no quality of life. You just worry about the bills all the time and you don't go out and do anything. When I needed help to figure out what I needed to pay, how to prioritise my debts and organise what was practical, MyBudget helped by showing me who needed to be paid most urgently, how I would be affected by payments and the short and long term prospects for my finances. MyBudget implemented bill smoothing programs for some of the bills that I had. Some of the utility companies I owed money reduced the amount because they obviously had confidence in MyBudget's reliability," explains Jade. "The thing I love about MyBudget is that it's about teaming up with someone who has more knowledge than I do, that can teach me how to do it and that can direct me towards a better future." "MyBudget always makes sure that I know exactly how the budget is going. If I need any amendments or emergency payments, they clearly communicate how the changes will affect the budget. I love their website where I see my statement and where my money is. It allows me to follow the budget closely to see the progress being made. MyBudget's staff are extremely friendly, approachable and helpful. They have a very understanding perspective and make thoughtful suggestions without being invasive or pushy. I always feel comfortable to discuss all financial decisions with MyBudget and I know that my opinions are not only heard, but listened to. It is a real team effort. I am not just a number - they really care. I now have money and I am saving. I am taken care of in a way that I am in control and all my bills are taken care of for me," says Jade.

Yvonne

Yvonne is a student.

"When I went to MyBudget I was suffering from depression because I could not pay my bills. I had let my bills go so long that I was receiving lawsuits. I thought I would have to go to court and that I was going to lose my house," says Yvonne. "I rang MyBudget and I spent an hour on the phone, crying the whole time. They ran through their process — how they manage all the bill payments and how I could start saving. I didn't believe that business people could be so empathetic and kind. They negotiated with all my creditors to reduce and arrange payment schedules. I have no problem recommending MyBudget. It's as easy as picking up the phone and making the first step." "MyBudget saved my life. Without them I wouldn't be here today," says Yvonne. "The time I have spent with MyBudget has been great, I have learnt a lot and they have provided me with the stability I need. You always talk to a person and they know your account, call you by name, with a positive attitude. They are always ready to step into your corner and fight for you," continues Yvonne. "I love MyBudget for allowing me to be able to live without dread hanging over my head. I no longer get anxious when the phone rings and I have peace of mind that I can work on my study without worry. I've even taken two holidays with my sons, something that before MyBudget was impossible."

Sean & Lynda

Sean and Lynda are married and have a young family. They are both career police officers who moved from the country and re-established themselves to the city 5 years ago.

“That was probably one of the first reasons for the dramas with money because we had fairly cheap accommodation out there and didn’t have any responsibilities for mortgages or anything like that” says Sean.

“Buying this house definitely, and miscalculating the funds” was where Lynda saw the start of their financial problems

“It was difficult,” says Sean “ not being used to budgeting properly was where we had our first problems. Suddenly the mortgage got bigger, the credit card debt got bigger and it just snowballed from there.”

With their financial situation worsening Sean and Lynda found they were not meeting their commitments.

“About 2 years ago it really started hitting home. The last lot of school fees for the year we found we didn’t have the money for. We had to borrow from our parents and then it was difficult to pay them back”

“The whole financial situation really got us down both individually and as a family as well… we had a lot of dramas” explains Sean “All your waking moments are spent wondering how you are going to pay the next bill”

“It impacts on absolutely everything in your life” says Lynda “missing out on doing stuff with the kids was one thing that really got Sean down, with them missing out on certain opportunities because we just didn’t have the money”

“We both earn good money but just couldn’t seem to do anything with it” explains Sean

It was at this time that Sean’s brother told him about MyBudget and they went in for an interview

“They were fantastic!” says Lynda “They let you know straight away that you are not stupid, that there are people in the same situation, both people who don’t earn a lot of money and people who earn good money”

After their meeting with MyBudget Sean explains that he felt more that just peace of mind.

“It was exciting. To think hey, this is great we can actually get on top of it. I’d been worried about it for so long and had got myself in such a state over it, I couldn’t think of anything else. All of a sudden they have come along with a plan for us and said you can achieve your goals… It was great”

Sean and Lynda joined MyBudget and felt instant relief, both emotionally and financially.

“It’s incredible” explains Lynda “the bills coming in and not having them sit there, not having to worry about them. Make a phone call (to MyBudget) or send an email and it’s done. You don’t have to think about it.”

After being with MyBudget for 12months Sean & Lynda’s financial situation had completely turned around.

“The turning point was when we started to see money going into the savings account” says Sean.

“We’ve got savings!” says Lynda “reading the reports and seeing month by month more money going into it (the savings fund), it was just amazing.”

With new found confidence and the experience gained from working with MyBudget, Sean and Lynda decided to start managing their finances on their own again.

“We always knew that if we do run into trouble we can go back… we’ve got somewhere to turn to, but were in a much better place now to start off with” explains Sean

“MyBudget have given us the skills to be able to do it. We wouldn’t have been able to do it before” says Lynda

Sean and Lynda have been recommending MyBudget to friends and co-workers.

“We’ve always said to them, just pick up the phone and ring them because it’s fantastic and it will change your life, just do it” says Lynda

“Just go in and see them” says Sean “It doesn’t cost anything to go in and see them and it’s not and indignity to say hey, I’m in trouble and ask for some help”.

Jem

Jem is 23 years old and enjoys socialising and spinning records as a DJ when he is not working at his day job for a bank in the area of home loan retention.

"I moved out of home at a really early age" explains Jem "so I didn’t have the ability to learns those tools on how to budget my money as effectively".

Jem found that after changing job roles he became under greater financial pressure.

"I was back peddling with my money… not having those skills made it really tough to live life" says Jem.

"Not having much money caused me to be depressed and really low on life. It made it really tough when friends rang up and said 'let’s go to the movies' or 'let’s go have dinner' and not be able to do it… it’s really hard".

Jem heard about MyBudget through a friend who had been in a similar situation.

"Seeing the way MyBudget helped them out, it was perfect for what I needed… I looked them up on the Internet and gave them a call. They were more than happy to make an appointment for when it suited me. I went in and had a chat with them and they went over everything, and what they said was great".

"After the meeting with MyBudget, I felt great. What they said was really positive… right then and there they were able to put a whole budget together, they were able to establish savings, and when I would be able to have a bit more money free up for enjoying life a bit more".

"I used to have creditors on my back on a regular basis or companies disconnecting my mobile phone, home phone and internet, that was happening all the time. When I went to MyBudget they addressed that straight away and negotiated with them… and now its great… it never happens anymore".

Jem has found that working with MyBudget has changed his attitude towards his finances.

"I can see that it is manageable and it is possible to live life without having that stress over your head. It’s such a relief. I can be more sociable and I’m a lot happier now knowing that I don’t have that problem anymore"

Jem says that he would recommend MyBudget to anyone struggling to manage their funds regardless of how much money they earn.

"They have helped me so much and it’s turned my life around… so go for it"

Annette

Annette is a 44 year old, hard working single mum with little spare time. She is a site manager for BP On The Run and loves her job. She has two daughters and a 2 year old grandson.

After splitting up with her husband, Annette tried to keep the family home on her own. This was a huge financial burden that steadily worsened her situation over time and Annette fell behind with her bills and other financial commitments.

"Financial difficulty brings you down" explains Annette, "you have no quality of life. You just worry about the bills all the time and you don’t go out and do anything. Life is not as enjoyable as it should be".

Annette can’t quite remember if it was the radio or television where she heard about MyBudget but she gave them a call.

"At first I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do it or not because I thought that I was letting myself down. I was very proud - to do everything myself, but when I went to see them they were very nice, talked me through things and showed me how things could work for me".

"They also asked me about my lifestyle… what kind of lifestyle I would like to have. They put all that in a plan and showed me how I could have a life free of worry and stress so I decided to go with it… Ever since then it’s been great. All my bills are paid on time".

MyBudget even included Annette’s passion for basketball into her plan.

"I’m a huge basketball fan so they took into account that I need my season ticket every year… and that’s there for me when the time comes".

During the year Annette’s mum passed away, and unfortunately she was left with a large, unexpected nursing home bill.

"When I called MyBudget they just took over the dealings with the people from the home for me and now its getting paid… I don’t hear from them, MyBudget deals with them for me"

Since being with MyBudget Annette’s finances have improved dramatically.

"I’ve never been much of a saver…I’ve always been a spender" explains Annette, "but with MyBudget I have been saving".

"It’s almost like they are my own private money advisers. If I came into money and won the lottery I would still stick with them because I don’t have to worry about bills… and its great!"

Annette says anyone in financial difficulty should definitely give MyBudget a call.

"They understand that you do have to live a life, as well as pay the people that you owe… it’s good that they understand that."

Leah And Kerin

Leah is a Project Officer and Kerin is a Trademan.

"Life before my budget was quite stressful. I was always wondering where I was going to get the money to pay the next bill from and things like that. But then on top of that I was also an impulsive spender so rather than paying rent or the phone bill and things like that that I would go out and buy a pair of shoes or a jacket or whatever it is that I wanted at the time.

Sometimes this resulted in our rent getting behind or the phone being disconnected and things like that so it was just very stressful. I went to MyBudget and the basically negotiated more affordable payment plans with my creditors, based around what I could afford rather than what the creditors were demanding at the time. And they did all this without getting us further into debt or taking out another loan or anything like that.

Things now are a lot better, a lot less stressful. Actually we don;t stress at all about money we don't fight at all about money. We know that our bills are all going to be paid on time so when our council rates come in or the electricity bill comes in there is always money in the budget to pay it. We don't have anything disconnected anymore, that hasn't happened in years so that's good as well. Obviously having a baby and I had maternity leave for 4 moths, we didn't have to worry that whole time at all about how the bills were going to be paid or anything like that as we had already budgeted for it.

So we went from about $23000 in debt to owning our own home and several investment properties. And I've been so happy and impressed with them over the years that an opportunity came up where I was able to become a part of the team and now I'm a project manager with them and I love it."
 

Lesley

Lesley works in a well paying job for a large corporate organisation, which she loves doing. Lesley developed poor financial habits at an early age and despite a good income, had always struggled with her finances

“When I was about 18 years old I worked with somebody who always looked fantastic in great clothes and I wanted to do the same thing, so I started spending a lot of money on fashion and it just never stopped. Over a ten year period I just shopped and shopped and shopped and spent all the money that I earned.I had a great time, but not a great financial time.

Going to MyBudget was about not leaning on my family and friends but taking control of the situation myself and going to see MyBudget and getting help from them.

I gave them a call and organised to go in and meet with somebody. I spent a couple of hours going through what my financial situation was and what my financial goals are, and worked through developing how those two could meet.

It was an extremely comfortable environment and I felt really well supported during that whole period during having the conversation around where I was at with my finances, which was an embarrassing situation to be in at the age I was at at the time.

When MyBudget took over sorting all of my finances out for me, it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I know that a bit cliché but it was, it was like the clouds going away. There was a bit of a celebration going on there between me and my friends and my family because we all knew that this was the next step in my life of really taking control of my financial situation and learning some fantastic habits about creating a really positive financial future for myself.

You don't have to struggle on your own. There is support out there and you're not to feel bad about going to see them because it's such an exceptional service for people that are not only in financial strife but need some assistance getting out of that but also people who want to save some money and don't necessarily have the right saving skills to save what they want to get together. From my perspective it's not just me helping me get out of what was a bad financial situation but also propel myself into what can be a really positive financial situation in the future."

Caitlin: It was our goal when we first joined MyBudget to just pay the bills somehow
 

Marco: One week we’d have lots of money for the bills and one week we wouldn’t and we couldn’t understand the reason why and it didn’t matter how hard I worked to earn the money we still couldn’t find enough money for our bills

Caitlin: We called MyBudget because I was pregnant, so we knew that we were going to be going down on to one income soon as we were really worried about how we were going to afford that. We actually were concerned we were going to have to look at bankruptcy or an act of bankruptcy. I was really impressed with the attention that we got as soon as we made the call to MyBudget, how everything was followed up and how we felt like we were taken seriously and that MyBudget were really concerned for our situation. And I felt like everyone put a real effort in to help us get us back on track and that it was achievable on what we were earn and that the answer wasn’t that we needed to earn more that we just needed help with our budget. Whenever we call MyBudget the service is always friendly there’s always someone bubbly and non judgmental on the phone and we just find it so much easier than having to deal with our creditors directly. MyBudget are wonderful stress relievers – and when we do have an extra bill it’s not the end of the world and we can get it sorted out that day on the phone.

Considering all the issues that we have financially all the bills we’ve got to pay and how much contact we need to have with MyBudget sometimes when things change I find the fees incredibly good value – they don’t change we know where we stand with them and we definitely get a lot for our money.

Marco: And there wasn’t any surprises or anything like that they told us how much it was, how much it’s going to be per week, all the way through it’s been 100% value for money.
Caitlin: We don’t even notice the fees.

When we talk about our future together now we’re a lot happier and a lot more relaxed and excited about what we’re going to be able do rather than constantly worrying about what we can’t do. We can think about private schooling for our kids and maybe buying a house soon and all the things that you want to do together that before we thought we’d never get there because we thought our debt looked that bad and we were so afraid of bankruptcy and things like that.
 

“Before my budget I was probably 20-30 thousand dollars in debt scattered across maybe 6-7 different companies”, says Karl, “and when we had our first interview with MyBudget they said we can get you debt free in 3 years without having to sign up for a new loan or anything like that. They managed all the payment s for us.”

“And they make it like it’s not the worst thing in the world,” adds Christie, “and the massive relief after it was all gone it was amazing. Just to now be free to do all the things that we need to do knowing that we don’t have to pay anybody back and that we’re not going to be getting any phone calls from anybody – we can make smart financial decisions and that MyBudget has given us the freedom to be able to do that.”
 

“And start to save now as well – so not only are we debt free but we are starting to put money aside for things like a holiday or going away again next year or something along that line. We can start putting money aside looking to buy a house down the line – and just use the tools that MyBudget have given us to make those decisions and to manage our finances” says Karl.
 

“I remember getting upstairs for our first appointment and just being welcomed by this really friendly face and getting offered a tea or a coffee straight away and then sitting down and it was just a really pleasant conversation it was just casual, easy going. And the phone calls I have now are all easy going as well and they just ask ‘well what can we do for you’, it’s all about us it’s not ‘no, you can’t have that’ ‘no, you can’t do this’ ‘no, the budget won’t let you’ it’s ‘let’s make this happen’ ‘let’s do this for you’ ‘let’s work it out’ ‘let’s spend time getting it done so that it works for you’” recollects Karl.

“ And I’m not worried about even asking for a little bit more money because MyBudget makes it so easy just to go ‘yep that’s okay we can do that for you that will be in your account in the next couple of hours’ and they’re just so easy to deal with and the people are so friendly” says Christie.
 

“And the fee they charge us is very minimal,” says Karl, “we don’t even notice it and the service they provide well exceeds what we pay for in that it’s just so easy to be able to look our finances online, they have online tools, they have a helpdesk, a call centre that we can call very often if we need to – the peace of mind is just …”
 

“Invaluable” says Christie

“Yep,” agrees Karl “invaluable. It’s priceless.”
 

“A: we were living outside of our means but also we would funnel all of our bills through our credit cards and it was really easy not to keep track of it all when you’re dealing with virtual money instead of actual money. So we explored options like going insolvent but we didn’t really like the long term effects that that can have on your credit rating. We looked at trying to combine all of our debt together so that there was only one payment, so to consolidate and of course with the level of debt that we already had none of the banks wanted to touch us at all” says Tamara

“I must have taken a copy of every bill to MyBudget” says Tamara, “every single one every single letter for the last three months and then we went ‘Oh and then there’s also registration which hadn’t been done for three months and the insurance and all the rest of it….’ She just went ‘Oh great, we’ve got all the information let’s just get it all into our system here’ and then she went away for about an hour and came back and said ‘Ok, so this is how we can save for this and this is what we have available and you’re actually wasting money here but you could be saving here..’ They incorporated all the fees into the budget we actually have more available money after MyBudget than before MyBudget.”
 

“We were actually paying more in interest on what we owe and the late fees and all the other fees than the fees from MyBudget – because it’s relatively small compared to what you actually do owe. You don’t have to worry about the calls, you don’t have to worry about the letters” says Michael

“A bill comes you just send the thing off to MyBudget – it makes it easy” adds Tamara
 

“Staff are always there willing to help” says Michael
 

“It makes it simple” says Tamara

“The worst thing possible is just to sit there and not do anything for six months and let the situation build even more for another six months – whereas you could already be in the situation where MyBudget have already helped you out for the first 6 months so your bills are going down” suggests Michael. “They’re there to help”
 

“Before I joined MyBudget I didn’t have any savings” says Jay. “I had no hope in saving money. I was the worst saver ever. It was really stressful and I actually didn’t believe I would ever grow up – I could never imagine my life as adult, as someone who owned a home or who was going to get married and have children. I never imagined my life like that.”

“And then one day it was all just too much and I thought what have I got to lose. So I picked up the phone and made an appointment and within the next day I went and saw somebody and she was amazing. She didn’t make me feel pressured or anything. I was really comfortable and I was there for 2 hours and we just went through everything and she basically said if I wanted help to save then she was there and if I didn’t then there was no obligation.”

“And I walked out of there feeling free, you know, I had never felt so amazing in my life and I just felt like I actually had hope in saving to buy a house and saving to get my deposit. And then within 12 months of hard work and amazing, amazing saving times I managed to buy it.”

“I think the fees are reasonable, they aren’t expensive and I think I should be paying them a lot more- for my house. My experience is that I couldn’t have asked for a better service” says Jay.