Maddy Alexander-Grout was just 18 when she was offered various credit cards at her university's freshers' fair.
A woman who loved shopping a lot didn't know she had to give the money back for what she bought with her credit cards. She ended up owing £40,000.
"I genuinely had a spending addiction," she said. "It was my low mood, lack of dopamine. Now I know it was because of my ADHD I got diagnosed in 2021. It was out of control." Maddy didn't realise how much debt she was accumulating until she moved out of her university accommodation and had to take care of bills herself. She found herself unable to meet her living costs, which led to friction with her housemates.
Things became so severe that Maddy started hiding her bills under her doormat as debt collectors hunted for her. Her mum also had to assist her financially on numerous occasions. Maddy shared: "The whole thing was really stressful. I constantly lived in a state of fear that I was going to be homeless. The whole of those 10 years were really scary."
She explained: "I was working and being really strict. I started selling clothes online and at the car boot and things like that. I was just being really good with my spending. It was just basically six years of knuckling down."
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