Steve
To say that Steve, 42, has had a hard life is clearly an understatement. He was made a ward of state at five, lived in homes, moved in and out of foster care, somehow finished Year 10 and was apprenticed to a butcher – a ‘terrific job … good people – it was all good. It taught me all about meat, presentation, commercial skills’.
But in his early 20s, Steve was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a debilitating, painful syndrome that has attacked his lower back and legs, leaving him unable to work.
Steve met Linda, 33, and they married in 1997, but after Steve’s mother died they struggled with bills, and went into bankruptcy.
They were expecting their first child, living in an area with few services and no public transport and Steve was becoming increasingly less mobile. ‘We really needed help’, he says. They needed to repair their car, but no one would lend them the money. ‘That’s when the Brotherhood stepped in.’
The couple found out about the Brotherhood’s microcredit programs through a newsletter for public housing tenants. They borrowed money from Progress Loans, a joint Brotherhood–ANZ program that assists people on low incomes to borrow between $500 and $5000 (over $3000 for cars only).
Progress Loans helps people with the essentials of daily life – such as repairing a car. It also helps them to better manage their finances and build confidence in dealing with banks and other mainstream financial institutions – rather than going without or resorting to credit cards or fringe lenders.
Steve and Linda have now repaid two Progress Loans and have built up some household assets for themselves and their children, Stephen, 7, and Kayla, 5.
‘We are indebted to the Brotherhood for giving us a chance’, Steve says. ‘There’s a huge weight off our shoulders. We have learned to budget and manage our money better.’