147 – Dealing with Gambling Debt

Debt doesn't start out as an obvious problem. For many people, lack of personal finance knowledge leads them to make poor decisions with their money. Once you figure out how easy it is to get credit, you start spending more and more because, hey, it's there. Today's guest is a former Hoyes Michalos client, and like many of our clients, he struggled with severe debt.

Beau started gambling at a young age through seemingly harmless games like scratch tickets. From there, it evolved to online card games throughout university and he eventually dabbled in "pretty much everything else you can think of". Beau had a full-time job so for him, gambling wasn't a means to earn income, it was his source for exhilaration.  The main problem that Beau had was that credit was the only way he knew how to have that instant access to cash to gamble.

I'm just kind of at my wit's end and I'm thinking, you know, I'm never going to be able to afford these credit card payments that I have if I keep going.

After working with a counsellor at the Canadian Association for Mental Health (CAMH), Beau found the source of his addiction: he had gone undiagnosed with ADD his entire life. After starting on his medication, and looking through nearly $40,000 in unsecured debt, Beau knew he needed a change.

On today's show, Beau discusses his consumer proposal, and how he recovered from both gambling and debt.