K. Kersten

With a mortgage, a personal loan, buy-now-pay-later home furnishings and three credit cards with a total of $20,000 owing on them, Woodcroft couple Kylie Kersten and her partner Michael had more debt than they could handle.

"We were scraping by from one pay day to the next," said Kylie. "We could manage to cover the bills and pay off just the interest on our loans and credit cards, but we could never get in front. When things went wrong, for example when the hot water system broke down, we had to borrow the money for repairs from our parents."

"I'm a self-confessed shopaholic," she adds. "I love shoes, clothes, handbags-and I had a credit card debt to prove it."

Kylie and Michael heard about debt consolidation and mortgage experts Crown Lending through friends who had been in a similar financial predicament. While visiting their friends' house one day, Kylie met Crown CEO Scott Parry.

"I started joking with Scott about my shopaholic tendencies, and my friend suggested I find out how Scott and the team at Crown could fix our finances. I was sceptical at first-it sounded too easy. But after hearing everything Scott had to say, I realised it was the perfect opportunity to do something about our debt."

After meeting with Scott to discuss the details of their financial situation in June last year, Kylie and Michael decided to consolidate their debts with a Crown Premium account. This allowed them to reduce their monthly repayments by $500 and within six months they had cleared their massive credit card debt and were able to pay off more than $13,000 on their mortgage.

"Scott and the team at Crown were amazing," said Kylie. "Unlike the banks that treated us as just a number, the team at Crown genuinely want to help people to get ahead. Scott has taught us so much about how to manage our money and he is only ever a phone call away."

"Best of all, I can actually afford to buy clothes and shoes now, as our money is working for us, rather than just going towards making our monthly repayments."

Crown Lending is one of Australia's fastest-growing mortgage and debt management specialists, with an office in Morphetville. To find out how you can get ahead of your debt and build on your investments, contact the Crown team on 1300 882 981 or email scott@crownlending.com.au.