'I was so in debt I could only afford beans on toast for Christmas dinner'

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EXCLUSIVE: A grandmother has revealed how she went from having a "beautiful life" to raking up £14,000 worth of credit card debts, and then emerging "smiling" again

A grandmother has spoken about how she was left eating beans on toast for Christmas lunch after becoming swamped with debts.

Victoria Jane, 61, had a “beautiful life, everything I ever wanted.” But all that began to change in 2016, after she suffered a serious ankle injury at work, and was made redundant the same month. She used savings and redundancy to get by at the time. Then two other events hit, first the breakdown of her marriage, then the Covid crisis, which severely hampered finding work.

“My savings and redundancy dwindled and I fell into the awful trap of using my credit card to pay my mortgage, and it just spiralled out of control,” Victoria recalls.

The mother-of-three from Kings Lynn, Norfolk, did not qualify for benefits at the time, and has never claimed any since.

At its worst, she owed £14,000 on credit cards and others debt. “Luckily I had friends and family who helped me out” Victoria says. “You get into such a black hole - debt consumes you. I didn’t tell people how bad it was. Some of my family didn’t even know what was going on, which was really difficult because obviously Christmas time was always so lovely. Everyone looks forward to Christmas but debt just took that away from me."

Victoria, who spent two Christmases with no money, isolated and alone, says: “I remember one year I stayed in bed, and I just had beans on toast” She made excuses to friends and family about why she could not get together for the big day.

Remembering different ways to save money, she says: “I went online and found an influencer who showed what they used to do during the war with rations, so I actually did that.” She also used a tea bag four times to make them last, a habit she has continued to this day.

“I can talk about it now because it’s over but during the time I was in my deepest, lowest depression,” she recalls. “I didn’t know where to turn for help.”

That help eventually came after she was given a card about the charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP).

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