Life goal to help people with financial knowledge

Moving halfway around the world takes a lot of planning, courage, and determination, which are also great qualities for a Debtfix Navigator.

Our newest Crew mate, Bianca du Bois, came to New Zealand with her husband and their two young children in 2017. She says she likes a challenge, which Is highly likely when starting over with a young family in a new country.

Bianca’s background is in teaching but when she immigrated she had to gain registration and certification before she could teach in New Zealand. While going through this process she did what it took to earn an income, including house cleaning and relief teaching at an early childhood centre. However, her real enthusiasm has always been accountancy, which she taught at high school in South Africa.

Debt Navigator - Bianca du Bois

Once Bianca met the Ministry of Education requirements, she continued to teach pre-schoolers, but she always looked for opportunities in the financial sector. Two years ago, the young family left urban Auckland and moved to a rental property on a lifestyle block near Warkworth.

They liked the wide-open spaces and relatively quiet surroundings compared to urban city living and they thought they might be able to afford a house. Then, changes in the housing market and increased cost of living made home ownership a bit uncertain, but it’s still a family goal and Bianca says they are persisting with their savings plan.

When Bianca saw a job at Debtfix she was excited to apply and early in 2022, she was ecstatic to become a Crew member, fulfilling her lifelong goal to help people with their financial knowledge.

“When you teach, that light bulb moment you see in a child’s eyes is amazing and, in a sense, you’re helping the child grow and become better,” Bianca says. “As a Debt Navigator I can help people to better themselves and become more financially stable. Some people are in quite big financial holes and it’s lovely when Debtfix, as a team, can help get people get out of those holes.”

She was surprised to learn how many add-ons are included in loan agreements and has seen clients’ desperation when they have entered contracts with lots of unnecessary and costly extras.

“We can empower people to thoroughly read contracts and make informed decisions. Not all debt is bad and Debtfix understands the real issue is the management of debt.”

Bianca has even found add-on insurance in a loan she and her husband have, and she successfully contested it to save them money. She has learnt a lot about the debt solutions that are available, enjoys on-going learning and is interested in personal debt for self-employed people with small businesses.

Her life experience in South Africa adds further diversity to the Crew and she says in New Zealand there is more support for people to get out of debt. Bianca works fulltime and spends much of her out-of-office time looking after her school-aged children. The family has a strong Christian faith and they enjoy teaching their children values, attending church, and sharing family bible time, explaining the scripture to the children, which isn’t always easy.

Bianca is also a keen photographer and baker, which she says doesn’t always go to plan but as mentioned earlier, she does enjoy a challenge.