He began to lose concentration at work, found himself unusually forgetful about important details and eventually he was forced to give up work. He had a well paying job and was forced to switch to disability living allowance, the transition was difficult and at first he carried on spending as he had always done.

“But when my savings ran out, I turned to a payday lender,” Mr Matthews says. “That was the worst mistake I have ever made.”

If he missed a payment, he would end up paying hundreds of pounds more back to the company. “The interest rates were ridiculous.” “In the end, I was handing over almost all my benefits just to service my debt.”

Fortunately David found out about Wandsworth Plus Credit Union, he went to them and an advisor sat down with him and went through his options.

“Now I have a plan with them, where I pay back what I owe at a rate I can afford,” David says. “What’s good, too, is that I pay an extra £20 a month into a savings account. That’s really useful when it comes to my grand children’s birthdays and Christmas.”

Another advantage is that the payments are deducted automatically for him. So that is one less thing for him to have to worry about.

It is a well known fact that people can often experience serious financial difficulties at the same time as poor health, this can make an already difficult situation far worse. If you live in Wandsworth, you have access to the new Wandsworth Plus Credit Union, it a financial co-operative, run by members for members providing affordable loans and ethical savings. Please call today on 020 7471 2620 to see how they could help you or visit their website www.wandsworthpluscu.co.uk