A mum was left in £40,000 of credit card debt after she “didn’t realise” she had to pay back the money used on the cards.

Maddy Alexander-Grout’s mornings were filled with dread as debt collectors could turn up at any moment, and letters warning of her financial struggles were delivered. Maddy’s troubles began when she found herself £40,000 in debt after her spending got out of hand.

At university, the 40 year old started accumulating debt when she was offered various credit cards at her freshers’ fair, Manchester Evening News reported. Seeing the cards as free money, the former student didn’t realise she would have to pay back any credit she accumulated on her accounts.

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She started taking out loans and spoiling herself with pricey shoes and bags, often picking up the tab for her mates’ drinks when they went out. Maddy said: “I took out credit cards and overdrafts. At one point I even got a university hardship grant, a hardship loan, store cards all sorts. I genuinely had a spending addiction.

“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 says she didn’t notice her mounting debt until she moved out of her university halls and had to manage bills herself.

The former student soon found herself unable to pay for her gas, electricity and water bills which affected her relationship with her flatmates. “I couldn’t afford to pay any of the loan repayments,” she added. “I couldn’t afford to pay the minimum payments so it just spiralled.”

Following graduation, Maddy landed herself a job in recruitment. However, she almost lost her position when a banking client asked her to run a credit check, revealing her county court judgements and debt relief orders. She was forced to come clean to her boss but persuaded him to let her keep her job. “They basically told me I couldn’t work with any banking clients. It was embarrassing.”

“I had overdrafts with six different banks,” she added. “It was horrible. It was horrendous.” Debt collectors tracked Maddy down when she moved to Warrington with her boyfriend. “I constantly lived in a state of fear that I was going to be homeless. The whole of those 10 years were really scary.”

Maddy had to go back to Southampton and found a cheap flat for £400 a month. She got help from the Citizens Advice Bureau to make a plan for her money. For six years, Maddy saved every penny she could. She ate tomatoes on toast, sold her clothes at car boot sales and online, and only bought food with yellow stickers.

By 2011, she had paid back all of her £40,000 debt. “I was working and being really strict,” she said. “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.”

Maddy discovered her love for being thrifty and found joy in saving money, which also helped with her ADHD. Eager to share her tips, she regularly posts advice and money-saving content for her 60,000 followers on TikTok.

“Paying off debt when you have ADHD is really hard,” Maddy said. “But I changed it into a game – I pushed really hard and I am really proud that I managed to achieve my goals.”

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