Low pay as a trainee bus driver left me desperate. I skipped meals and ended up £46k in debt

James Rossi was desperate when he started taking out loans to cover his bills. His salary as a trainee bus driver was failing to stretch and he was skipping meals to afford rent.

The loans meant Rossi could survive and feed his family, but he had no way of paying them back. Eventually, he racked up debt worth around £46,000 because of soaring interest.

“I just stuck my head in the sand for a period of time,” the 46-year-old father of three says. “I moved from one place to another every six to 12 months. I never registered an address. No one could find me.”

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Rossi is far from alone. Recent research from the Financial Conduct Authority showed that nearly a third of people are not coping financially or are finding it difficult to cope. That equates to 14.6 million people.

It is in part due to incomes not keeping up with the cost of living. Real pay levels remain lower now than in 2008 for people in nearly two-thirds of the UK. Real benefit levels have decreased by 8.8% since 2012.

Rossi started as a bus driver around 14 years ago. He had recently left the army, after around eight years of service, and was working on building sites. Then he saw an advert on the back of a bus saying drivers could earn £500 a week.

“I thought I’d give that a go,” he says. During the training, Rossi says he was only earning around £800 a month. “It wasn’t covering the rent or anything else. I had no debt at the time. I had a good record with the bank, so I asked for a loan.”

The bank would not loan him any money because he had no property, so he had to try other means. He discovered payday loans, short-term loans for small sums of money.

“I was desperate. I didn’t want to give up the job,” Rossi says. “I just did what I had to do. I borrowed the money to pay the rent and the council tax and struggled through. 

“It was a nightmare. I would go to work some days and not eat anything all day, because I didn’t have money for lunch. It was ridiculous.”

Rossi got through the training and his salary increased, but by then the interest on his loans had soared. He was told he could not pay it back in instalments. It was all or nothing. So he felt he had little choice but to let the debt build.

“I was very naive at the time and didn’t know anything about debt management,” he recalls. “I didn’t know there was help out there.”

A divorce from his wife led to more debt and problems. Rossi settled in northwest London in 2019 and “the bills started flying through the door”. He didn’t know what to do. It was “bill after bill”.

It took a toll on his mental health too. He suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the debt made it worse. 

“One of the key things with PTSD is anxiety,” Rossi says. “You’ve already got anxiety with it, and then there’s the added pressure of the debt. It just raised it so high for me. There were days where I was completely an emotional wreck.”

The Big Issue previously reported on research from the Money and Mental Health Institute which found half of people facing debt have had suicidal thoughts in the cost of living crisis.

Around 2.5 million people feel “harassed” by the calls, texts and messages they receive from creditors.

Rossi was encouraged to get support from Unite the Union and Christians Against Poverty, which provides help for debt management. The charity helped him work out exactly how much he owed and get him on a debt management plan.

He was paying back around £800 a month and keeping up with it but that was barely leaving him with enough to scrape by. Eventually, he was advised to declare bankruptcy.

“They only gave me the minimal restrictions for a minimal period,” he says. “They recognised it wasn’t entirely my fault. They realised I was being honest, open and willing to cooperate to the fullest. I’ve just got to the end of my bankruptcy. I’m out of debt and it’s such a big relief.”

Rossi feels that there needs to be more support for people facing financial worries. He has previously spoken in parliament about his experiences.

“We need to stop looking at bankruptcy as a stigma and we need to stop looking at debt as a stigma,” Rossi says. “One of the biggest things I said in the speech in parliament was that it is so easy for people to get into debt, especially the wrong debt.”

Rossi is far from alone. Around 60% of people supported by Christians Against Poverty had to borrow money to pay for essential household bills. One in seven had skipped meals, and one in five had gone without heating in their home on a daily basis.

Stewart McCulloch, chief executive of Christians Against Poverty, says: “Two years of high costs have left many low-income households across the UK trapped under the rubble of debt and poverty. We expect this will lead to more local people needing free debt advice to get back on their feet. 

“Imagine yourself struggling to find enough cash to buy a carton of milk. Shivering in an icy cold house. Your lights are off, curtains closed because you fear people knocking on your door demanding money you don’t have. You’re stuck in an endless cycle of borrowing to pay off another debt. 

“This is what living in poverty looks like and this is the reality for many people living in your local community.”

Rossi had not been in the army long enough to qualify for financial support and, having worked in the household cavalry, he did not feel he had been given enough transferable skills for life beyond service, other than his driving licence.

He also earns too much to qualify for benefits or social housing. He believes there must be more provision and a stronger social security system and housing support to ensure that people have a safety net if they find themselves in financial crisis.

“It is so easy to get dragged into debt,” Rossi says. “You’re desperate because you want to keep that roof over your head because you’ve got a small child and a missus. You don’t want to be on the street. If I went to the council and told them we had nowhere to live and we’re going to be evicted, am I going to get a house? No. They’re going to put me in a bedsit at best.”

Find out how to get help for debt from Christians Against Poverty.

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