Three and half years ago, all I ever thought about was my debts; I went to bed thinking about it and woke up thinking about it. We didn’t go on lavish holidays, or have a top of the range house or car, our debts built up over a period of years, circumstances, job loss, and interest free credit card to the next interest free credit card until they stop and suddenly wham bam the interest starts to mount up. No spare cash at Christmas, so presents brought from catalogs for my two girls. Money worries, is one of the worst stresses you have to deal with in life and if like me you buried your head in the sand, didn't tell anyone and just hoped some miracle would happen, I can tell you now there isn't a quick fix. The first thing you have to do is admit to yourself there is a problem and it can no longer carry on, the next thing you need to do it talk about it and get advice. So a chat to citizen’s advice, and we decided that the amount I owed was with various creditors so an IVA would be the best route. So they put me in touch with a lovely lady at Grant Thornton / Aperture, she rang me and we spoke at great length and suddenly for the first time in years I felt like I was starting to climb out of the hole I had fell into. She told me to stop paying my creditors straight away, which seemed rather strange as although I had a massive debt I always manged to scrape by and pay them. So the ball had started rolling and the time went quite quickly, so 3 months later was the day I waited to hear if our creditors would agree to the IVA terms. The call came in about 3pm and the answer was yes. I cannot fault the treatment we received from the staff at Grant Thornton/Aperture during these 3 months; they were professional, helpful and never once judged. Fast forward 3 years, and we have just completed our third review, with 2 years to go the time has gone fast. I no longer wake up thinking about debt, yes money is still tight but the living allowance you are allowed is generous and we are better off now than we was before. I also feel happy that I am paying my debt back and by the end of the 5 years I would have paid back 95% of what I owed. Over the three years I have had to speak to the customer services on various occasions, I recently had to buy a new second-hand car as mine had died and just a quick call to Aperture and my mind was put at rest, two month break allowed me to get the car. Best thing I did was pick the phone up and ring Grant Thornton/Aperture 3 years ago. Highly recommend them if you have money worries, don’t stay in that hole, climb out now.