"We had a few credit cards and a loan but my husband, Tony, had a well-paid job so we could afford them. Then Tony got ill. It was awful and he was laid off work. I had to reduce my hours to look after Tony because he was so ill."

"Then the bills started coming but we just couldn’t pay. I tried phoning the mortgage company to explain, but all they said was, ‘If you can’t pay, we’ll kick you out of your house’. If we tried to talk about debt it would always turn into an argument. It was a complete nightmare, I felt as though I would burst under the pressure."

"The worst thing is that people don’t believe you’re on the edge. You know you can’t afford a loaf of bread, but people think you’re lying."

"Some weeks we couldn’t even afford bread and milk.
If I couldn’t afford food, we lived on tea and sugar to fill us up."

"Then my sister told me about CAP so I phoned them. When Tessa (Darlington Centre Manager) and Geraldine (Support Worker) came to my house I was so relieved. It felt as though a weight had been taken off us. It was like God had come to my door. I had put all my bills into six bin bags and when Tessa left with them I knew I had nothing to worry about. It was a lovely feeling knowing that no-one’s going to knock at the door or phone me."

"It’s been fantastic working with CAP - they’ve got us back on track and we have enough money to eat properly."

"Every fortnight we put money into our CAP Account and they make sure our bills are paid for us. Because of our situation, bankruptcy was our best option. It took a year to save up the fees we needed and eventually we went to court. It was so reassuring to have James (CAP support worker) with us because I was so nervous."

"When you are in debt you just think about bills all the time. Now I can think about getting my husband better. We are back to our old selves again and we talk to each other."

"We can laugh and have fun together instead of blaming each other for the situation we were in. Now I can honestly say that I love him again."

Want to know more about supporting the work of Christians Against Poverty? – Find out how you can make your mark on UK poverty.