Money
Issue No. 38 - December/January 07/08
Credit cruch offers budget entree
by Pamela Brombal
With credit card debt hitting an all time high of $41 billion at the end of July 2007, MyBudget founder and MD, and winner of the 2007 Telstra Business Woman of the Year, Tammy May knows how debt affects peoples’ lives.
Setting up SA company, MyBudget in 2000 at the age of 22, Tammy had the idea to help people manage their money better by becoming the ‘middle man’ between consumers and creditors.
“My husband and I were talking about how many Australians were getting themselves further into debt and not really knowing how to get out of it. At the time I was working for a law firm in the debt collection arm and was able to see first-hand the impact of debt and how it was managed,” Tammy says.
“And it didn’t really have anything to do with what income people earned.”
What has resulted is a business that currently employs 30 staff, has more than 2000 clients and provides practical debt management services to clients in need – and expansion is planned for interstate.
“The most common trend we encounter is people who have difficulty managing their finances – it is very hard to say we have this sort of client, who earns this amount of money, or lives in this sort of area – it simply comes down to having difficulty managing money and finding the time to do so,” Tammy says.
“I have set up the business like it was an independently run office, so that it can function without me being present,” says Tammy. ...
