“I would much rather come up with the right solution for you, rather than the solution that is going to make me money today.” - Doug Hoyes
This is the kind of thinking that makes me want to send everyone to Hoyes Michalos and Associates for help.
In 2009 I found myself with a huge amount of consumer debt, due to my gambling addiction, and I could barely keep up with my minimum payments. I could feel that I was on my way to finding a way out of my gambling addiction, but it was hard to make any pro...
“I would much rather come up with the right solution for you, rather than the solution that is going to make me money today.” - Doug Hoyes
This is the kind of thinking that makes me want to send everyone to Hoyes Michalos and Associates for help.
In 2009 I found myself with a huge amount of consumer debt, due to my gambling addiction, and I could barely keep up with my minimum payments. I could feel that I was on my way to finding a way out of my gambling addiction, but it was hard to make any progress with so much debt weighing upon me and no plan to pay it off.
I did a bunch of research and decided that filing for bankruptcy might be an option. I looked a bit further and found that a consumer proposal to my creditors might be the better choice.
In early 2009 I emailed Hoyes Michalos and Associates with the following message:
“Due to a recent gambling incident, my debt load has increased significantly. I do not believe I can reasonably afford to pay my current debt load. I think a consumer proposal might be the right thing for me.”
The “incident”, of course, was not recent, and it was an accumulation of gambling debt over 10 years, which I clarified with Sandra, the insolvency trustee when we met.
Sandra took my $40,000 in debt and crafted a proposal to my creditors asking if it could be reduced to $15,000. The alternative was bankruptcy, and $0, so my creditors accepted the $15,000.
I now had fixed monthly payments of $300 for the next 50 months. Oh yeah, and my credit rating would be ruined for the entire 50 months + 3 full years after my proposal was paid in full.
What might have been a negative for some, was a huge relief for me. With the inability to gamble with credit cards, and having enough cash flow to start saving again, I was able to focus on rebuilding.
Soon after, I finally realized I was gambling because I had Attention Deficit Disorder(ADD). I was diagnosed, medicated and my life changed completely.
It still took a few more years to shake the gambling addiction completely, but in 2011 I had my final relapse and was finally done with gambling.
In August 2012 I paid my proposal in full and 3 years later my proposal was cleared from my credit report. It took a while but I recovered from what seemed to be a hopeless situation.
This is the kind of situation Doug Hoyes sees every day.
After 20 years and 10,000 clients, Doug decided to write a book called “Straight Talk on Your Money”, just released in September 2017.
I really enjoyed speaking with Doug and I want to thank him for having me on his podcast “Debt Free in 30”. Here’s the link for that episode: https://www.hoyes.com/blog/dealing-with-gambling-debt/
To find out more about bankruptcies, consumer proposals, and other insolvency options, please head to https://www.hoyes.com or call 1-866-747-0660.
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