I got a debilitating mental illness 11 years ago – which took me from being very affluent, running multiple businesses, with a platinum Amex and 70k credit in my pocket on any given day – to losing everything, and being made bankrupt.
I was in hospital for 18 months. My credit score was destroyed – I couldn’t even open a bank account. I only got one because the money advisor in the hospital knew the local bank manager.
When I got out of hospital, I was starting again from scratch. I was certainly in a pickle and couldn’t bring home the bacon.
I tried to get finance on some furniture, and the guy just about threw me out of the shop.
It should take 6 years for bankruptcy to clear, but due to some clerical errors mine wasn’t discharged properly. It took me 10 years to access a basic credit builder card.
It is very hard to make a recovery when you can’t get credit.