Kevin Duala revealed how a few small loans spiralled into £20,000 worth of debt
Almost half of GB adults are worried about their energy bills, with many already facing debts and arrears according to StepChange Debt Charity. However, one well-known actor and presenter shared his own experience after finding himself “up to £20,000” in debt and shared the steps that help get him back in the green.
Kevin Duala, known for his hosting appearances on BBC programmes like The One Show, revealed that at the start of his career a few circumstances started a hidden debt cycle that left him “ashamed” without any access to funds when a cashpoint swallowed his card.
Speaking on Morning Live, Kevin revealed he had followed the usual advice from experts a self-employed person, making different pots for his tax, mortgage, house bills and cashflow. But when his work dried up a little, he started borrowing money to pay his mortgage.
Then he needed to borrow more as his tax bill was due and he was a bit short. When it came time to pay the loans off, he still didn’t have enough cash flow to do so and borrowed even more to cover the debt.
He shared: “Little bits of work was coming in but not enough to balance the books…I then borrowed a little bit more money. Then I maxed out on my overdraft, I was just ending up in this horrible, vicious circle, robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“I just thought I’ll ignore it, it’ll go away. I just buried my head in the sand but as we know it doesn’t go away.
“I didn’t want to tell anybody it was embarrassing. I felt ashamed. I was a grown man, we were bringing our kids up, I had bills to pay. The pressure started to mount and it’s horrible when you when you go through that situation because you can’t tell anyone or you don’t want to tell anyone, you feel embarrassed.”
The debt worries started to affect his personal life, relationships and even his work, telling hosts Helen Skelton and Rav Wilding: “The industry that we’re in, our job is to go out and pretend and everything’s okay. And I just couldn’t do that.
“I remember going for for an audition and I just thought to myself; if you get this job, I’ll be back in the game, no one needs to know, I can hide it all.”
Unfortunately, Kevin didn’t land the role and entered a “dark place” as he came to a turning point in his financial situation: “One day I went to the cashpoint, to get some money out and it took my card and it said, contact your bank. I had no access to money. So, I went home and I just thought my goodness, what am I gonna do? I just started crying, not out of pity just out of annoyance that I got myself in that situation.”
In that moment, Kevin called the Citizens Advice Bureau who put him in touch with a debt charity that changed his life. With the help of these experts, Kevin made a new budget, contacted HMRC, the bank, bill companies and other debtors and then started chipping away at his arrears.
It took Kevin six years to pay down all of his debts, and he shared some key steps to start tackling debt: “Know what you owe and then that will see you in the right direction because then you can attack it. Start by going through your bank statements line by line, a great way to do this as well is to get a free credit report.
“Make a budget. Make what’s your incoming? What’s your outgoings? Get your plan all in order. What’s at the top of the list that you need to pay? Is it your rent? Is it your council tax? Make sure you’ve got enough money for all of those.
“This may help some people but if you can, just put a couple of quid away or a pound away, just to get you in that mindset of saving money.
“I promise you, the relief you will get from taking that first step far outweighs the financial stress living with debt. I remember talking to the dead charity, the organisation I said: When will I get to the end? And they said: When you get to the end, don’t put a time limit on it.”
A number of charities offer free help people for struggling with debt including StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice, MoneyWellness and the Debt Advice Foundation.
