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# Broke: all about life in debt
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/broke-all-about-life-in-debt/
- Published: 2015-03-16T10:03:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-18T14:56:31.000Z
- Description: The slippery slope into debt doesn’t happen by chance. It is premeditated by a billion pound industry that works hard to target young people, like my 18 year old self.
- Author: Kylie Walsh
- Tags: Cultural politics, #Migrated, culture, The role of money, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 16:53, #ImagesUploaded

![ Richard Davenport.](https://www.opendemocracy.net/content/files/2026/04/Kylie_Walsh._Broke_by_the_Paper_Birds._Photo_Credit_Richard_Davenport_6_fjn5esH-1776345559770.jpg)

Richard Davenport.

*Still from Broke, by The Paper Birds. Credit: Richard Davenport.*

“*KYLIE: It starts when I turn 18 and go off to university; I’m finally an adult and I’ve got a triple A credit rating! I get my first overdraft with the bank – I study, I buy CD’s, clothes, library fines and train fares home. And then three years later, I graduate. Yes, I’m leaving home for good now and I’m a prime target for more credit. I get my first credit card. I buy my first car, I start paying council tax, full price at the dentist; I get another credit card. By 2005, I’m 23 years old, working full time on minimum wage, and I’m £5,000 in debt, not even counting my student loan. I apply for credit card number 3, as its interest free for 12 months, and my mum says it will be a good idea cos it will help me clear my debts.”*

I remember the letters through the door. Application forms for a credit card, already filled in with my details. All I needed to do was sign on the dotted line and pop it back in the post. Instinctively, I threw them away the first, second and maybe third times.

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