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Leading the Way to being debt free
Kate owes debt to her credit cards
Apr 20 2007
By Graeme King, The Journal
Struggling with big credit card debts has given former model Kate Outhwaite a perfect introduction to starting her new business.
Kate, 24, from Whitley Bay, has set up her own personal finance company, helping people with big debts to sort out their money matters.
But it is only a couple of years since Kate herself featured in The Journal as a case study on coping with credit card and student debts.
At that time she was working for a company in mobile phone marketing, and has also done modelling work, including for glossy magazines and in the hair industry, though says it was always her ambition to work in finance.
She did a degree in business studies at Northumbria University, and like most students today built up substantial student debts, and owed cash on several credit cards.
She said then that she planned to cut up all her cards and pay them off on a month-by-month basis - and she has done that.
And now, with her Lead the Way company, she is passing on her personal and professional expertise to others with difficult debt problems.
The business works by having a panel of brokers, lenders and independent financial advisers (IFAs) to which Kate can recommend her clients. Under FSA (Financial Services Authority) rules, financial services companies cannot contact potential customers at home - so they rely on lead generators like Kate to bring them new business.
She says: "I still get requests to do modelling, but I am focused on Lead the Way now. It is a growing trend that people are overspending. At some point they have to stop and see what their options are to get on the path to normality.
"The objective with Lead the Way was to offer a free service to consumers who do not fit the normal criteria for borrowing and this can be because of CCJs, missed or late payments and bad debts.
"I realised there was an opportunity to take this business on board, and I now have a panel of brokers, lenders and IFAs that I work with, who will be able to help with my customers circumstances. My service is completely free of charge to my customers, but I get paid commission from brokers and IFAs for introducing new busi- ness to them."
To read the full story featured in teh Journal visit the following link
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/0500business/businessnews/tm_method=full%26objectid=18932668%26siteid=50081-name_page.html