In fact Sally was adamant that she did not want her partner to know for fear that he might leave them, but realising it was necessary to give the full household income and expenditure, she told him of her predicament.

Anticipating that Sally (or to be more precise; her creditors) would no longer fund his lifestyle, he left her and their two and a half year old child. Whilst she was devastated by this; she realised exactly where she stood in her life and was determined to sort it out her way.

A proposal was put to creditors for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement ("IVA"), whereby she would pay £400 per month for 60 months.

The five years were not without their difficulties; increases in child nursery fees required assistance from the family and a change in jobs required a payment holiday for a month which was then caught up by increased payments for six months.

The Arrangement was concluded with dividends totalling 31p in the £ being paid to creditors. In summary, Sally had paid £24,000 over five years to discharge her indebtedness of £52,000.