Queensland bus driver used early access to super to pay off $60K debt

A Queensland man has described his financial woes as like “monsters” under his bed. He is one of millions who went down this path.

When the pandemic hit, Charles Willis was $60,000 deep in debt, living off his credit cards and had his casual hours severely cut.

The bus driver’s wages dropped from around $750 a week to $330, while his debt was spread across credit cards, a bank loan and payday loans, many of which had high interest rates.

With the bills piling up around him, Mr Willis described his financial debts as “monsters under the bed” causing him many sleepless nights.

“I used one card to pay another card and you’re constantly chasing the payments round and round and round,” he told news.com.au.

“I’ve always kept my budgets pretty tight but when you get the call from the boss saying because of the pandemic they are looking at shutting networks down and things are already tough as it is making ends meet and when you start losing hours, what do you do?”

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More than $37 billion was withdrawn from retirement funds during the scheme. Picture: News Regional Media

At first it meant many nights eating beans on toast, Mr Willis admitted.

“You would be surprised how many different ways you can fry up a potato to make what you need to get by,” he said.

“I’ve always prided myself on keeping bills paid up and I can still stand proud. I will eat beans on toast before I default on payments but it’s once you start going down the road of bad credit then you’ve got no chance and you need to know where the line is.”

The 42-year-old knew it was time to seek the help of a financial specialist to aid him in climbing out of the mountain of debt.

He decided to use the controversial super early release scheme and take out $10,000 from his superannuation, which he described as a “blessing” as it allowed him to implement some “damage control”.

It gave him the ability to knock his debt down to $50,000, freeing up some of his wages for the first time in two years, as well as obtaining a debt consolidation loan from Wisr which he said gave him a feeling of “euphoria” and the best night’s sleep.

“Things have freed up my budget. I have a weekly budget for my wages that I allocate to car fuel, shopping, rent and groceries and general bills like phone and living expenses,” he explained.

“It had been a while since I’d been able to take my car in for general service and pay the bills instead of putting it on credit. I can just pay the bill and be done and now I’ve got some savings.”

A new report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics found the majority of funds accessed through the early release of super scheme were used to meet bills and pay down existing debts, such as home loans.

ABS director Dean Adams said 29 per cent of people paid down their mortgage, while 27 per cent used funds to pay bills. A further 15 per cent used the money to pay down personal debt, such as credit cards.

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Credit cards caused big problems for the bus driver. Picture: iStock

For Mr Willis, access to the scheme now means he can put money away for a holiday and this year he will be able to take off his first Christmas in 11 years.

The Queenslander isn’t scared to look at his statements online now either, which meant he picked up on something alarming before it flew out of control.

“There was a discrepancy on my card and I talked to the bank and I picked up early that there were unauthorised transactions on it, so with a bit more scrutiny on my finances ... I was able to put a stop to that before any damage was done,” he said.

“When you’ve got crushing loads of debt on your shoulder, you don’t want to look at your cards, so something like that could have gotten away as you don’t look.”

While its nice to have money freed up for recreational things, Mr Willis said he isn’t complacent.

“You can learn to live with some nice things in life that are tempting, but when you go down the dark road of big, expensive things, you realise you can do without them,” he said.

“Even though I’m good debt wise and credit wise, I’ve gotten rid of the cards that were the root of all problems and that caused a lot of financial dramas.”

He added he is also now salary sacrificing to top up his superannuation.

More than $37 billion was sapped from retirement funds through the federal government’s early release of superannuation scheme, The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority revealed.

There were 4.9 million applications lodged with the tax office throughout the last calendar year with around 98 per cent receiving funds.

According to Industry Super Australia, 725,000 people effectively drained their superannuation accounts through the scheme.

Despite beefing up the balance sheets of everyday Australians, the scheme attracted negative attention for a lack of oversight in the first tranche, where the eligibility of applicants wasn’t scrutinised.