Man, 36, who was £24,000 in debt and unable to rent due to bad credit score reveals exactly how he paid it all off in just 18 months thanks to ‘side hustles’ – and now has £250,000 saved
A man who was £24,000 in debt has revealed how he paid it off in just 18 months and now has £250,000 in savings.
Sammie Ellard King, 36, quickly racked up debt after being given a student overdraft and credit card at university, and would splash the cash on clothes and alcohol to make it seem like he was wealthy.
By the age of 25, he had racked up £24,000 of debt and was left unable to rent a flat as his credit score was so bad.
After hitting rock bottom, Sammie, from St Albans, decided to make a serious change and paid off his debts in 18 months, by side hustling for up to six hours a day after work.
After his debts were paid off, he continued the side hustles, and put his money into savings instead, before launching a social media site dedicated to helping people with money struggles.
Sammie, who has just launched the Gains App, which helps users track their spending, said: ‘I used my debt to keep up appearances, and make it seem like I had more money than I did.
‘It got to the point where a third of my wages were going on interest repayments. The moment you start talking to people about it, it opens doors for you, because you realise you have options.
‘And the moment you put a plan in place, it starts to feel fulfilling, as you are working towards something.
Sammie Ellard King (pictured), 36, quickly racked up debt after being given a student overdraft and credit card at university, and would splash the cash on clothes and alcohol to make it seem like he was wealthy
‘I’ve now built up £250,000 in savings in 10 years; if you’d have said this to me before I would have laughed you out of the room. I am just a normal everyday person, and I’ve made every mistake going, so if I can do it, anyone can.’
When Sammie was 18 and in his first week of university, he attended a student fair, where a high street bank offered him a huge student overdraft, and a credit card.
‘I knew nothing about how to handle money and grew up in a household where money wasn’t really spoken about’, he said. ‘I was let loose with a couple of grand overdrafts and I just went wild.’
Sammie blew his student loan on clothes, and alcohol, and once he’d run out of cash, started using his credit card.
‘I would spend my money on anything that would make me look fun and cool’, he said. ‘I wanted to fit in, and it spiralled away from me.’
After finishing university, Sammie moved to London, to work in marketing, and quickly progressed to head of marketing, earning £50,000.
However, despite his high wage, Sammie kept taking out more loans and credit cards to pay off his other debts, creating a vicious cycle.
By the age of 25, Sammie was putting a third of his monthly wages towards interest repayments and had racked up a staggering £24,000 in debt.
By this point, he had no credit score which prevented him from taking out any more debts.
By the age of 25, Sammie (pictured) had racked up £24,000 of debt and was left unable to rent a flat as his credit score was so bad
‘I couldn’t even get a mobile phone contract, my mum had to do it for me, because my credit score was so bad’, he said.
Sammie’s ‘aha moment’ came in June 2014, when he was unable to rent out a flat, because he couldn’t pass credit checks.
‘That was a big slap in the face,’ he said. ‘I went on a mission to turn things around from there.’
He told his friends and family about the debt, and a huge weight fell off his shoulders. Sammie worked out that on his salary, it would take him seven years to pay off his debts.
But determined to be debt free in just two years, he decided to side hustle some extra cash.
He began spending his evenings doing everything from website testing, to surveys, reselling and tutoring, and was able to earn £2,000 extra a month – all of which he put towards paying off his debts.
He would spend up to six hours after work every day working on his side hustles and was able to pay off his debts in just 18 months.
Instead of giving up the side hustles, when his debts reached zero, Sammie started putting the money into his savings account and Trading 212 Stocks and Shares ISA instead, and by April 2019, had saved his first £10,000.
Gradually, Sammie stopped doing some of his side hustles, to allow himself to have more of a social life, but he still kept up reselling, as it allowed him to make big profits for doing hardly any work.
‘I’d buy a new pair of Nike trainers on the day they came out, and then by the next day they’d have sold out, and I could sell them on eBay for four or five times the money’, he said.
‘If I’m sitting on a train and I have 45 minutes to kill, I’ll do a few surveys and make some money’, he said. ‘For me, that’s better than Netflix.’
He also now controls his spending by only allowing himself to purchase something over £50 after he’s had 24 hours to think about whether he really wants it.
Sammie now has £250,000 in savings and investments, £100,000 of which he put in and the rest of which is from returns.
‘Last year I earned more than the average UK salary from my investments, which is just wild to me,’ he said.
Sammie plans to use his money to buy his own farm. ‘I want to grow a load of food on it and then host a few weddings a year’, he said.
In 2021, Sammie launched Up the Gains, a website, podcast and social media channel, sharing money advice, and he has so far helped over a million people to achieve their money goals.
After speaking to people he has helped, Sammie decided to launch the Gains App in June 2026, a budgeting app which helps users to track spending, find opportunities to save money and earn cashback from retailers.
‘We’ve grown to over 13,000 users so far and had some really great reviews’, he said. ‘The app helps you to make conscious decisions with your money, which I think has really resonated with people, with the cost of living being so high at the moment’.
