Marco Dijkhuis, ex-entrepreneur since 2010

“Our company was engaged in facility maintenance for private individuals and companies. Nice work to do, but in 2010 the debts had become so high that it was no longer possible for us to continue with our company. The municipality therefore referred us to Zuidweg & Partners in Groningen.

The first intake interview went very well. Although everything came on the table and I really had to play open card, I was received and treated with great respect. Of course I was ashamed. I had failed and no longer saw a future. But I really needed help.

Zuidweg & Partners offered me a straw by imagining a trajectory after which I could live debt-free again. A three-year process. They have made agreements with my creditors for this. Within a few months, an arrangement was on the table with all my creditors. Really great!

Yet that was only the beginning. First, a capacity calculation had to be made. This means that the maximum amount you can repay is calculated on the basis of your income. Since then we have been allowed to keep a certain amount to pay bills and also receive seventy euros a week to live on. The rest I transfer to Zuidweg & Partners and is saved up for the creditors. That is not going fast, but at least it is something.

After a while I picked up my old profession again, consultant in logistics and maintenance. I was lucky to have the opportunity to do a six month maintenance project at one of the largest companies in the Netherlands. It soon became clear that it would be a year. And now it has become a full-time two-year project. I am even involved in a next project, which is also expected to last two years.

I am also going to study again, after all you have to keep developing. My employer pays for this HBO study in Maintenance Technology. This way I keep costs limited and earn as much as possible so that I get the most out of it for my creditors in those three years. That's my job and I'm going for it! We now have ten months to go. But then this difficult and frustrating period is really closed and we have a clean slate again. Yes, after more than two years, I can now say that things are going well again. But I am sure I would not have succeeded without the help of Zuidweg & Partners! ”