Thomas (36) from Den Bosch had hundreds of thousands of euros in debt and was in debt restructuring for a year and a half. Thanks to a new arrangement, he, like 350 other residents of Den Bosch, has now been released from his debts earlier than expected. And that is special. “I suddenly received a phone call saying that I could already stop paying off,” says Thomas. “I’m happy with it, but I also had to get used to it.”
An own company with 60 employees and a turnover of 12.5 million euros. This is what Thomas’ life looked like 15 years ago. In his twenties, he ran a company that designed and sold women’s clothing in eight weeks. Much faster than other companies could do at the time. But in 2016, the young entrepreneur’s multimillion-dollar company went bankrupt.
Since then things have gone downhill for Thomas. “The first year I just lay in bed. Not only did I feel terrible that my company went bankrupt, I also fell into a black hole after years of extremely hard work,” he says. With the help of family, his bankruptcy trustee ensured that some of his creditors already received what they were entitled to “But manufacturers, distribution companies and a credit card company still wanted money from me.”
The creditors still wanted 780,000 euros from Thomas. “There were regular people at my door. I was even stalked. I felt responsible, but there was nothing to get from me,” he says. Thomas suffered from post-traumatic stress and burnout. “I couldn’t compete with those big organizations on my own.”
“This was the time to be able to offer people something again.”
After years, things slowly improved with the inhabitant of Den Bosch. He got a job as an employee and decided to apply for a debt restructuring program with the municipality of Den Bosch, so that he could make a good proposal to his creditors. “This was the time to be able to offer people something again.”
Thomas agreed with the municipality and the creditors that he would repay 80,000 euros. He had to do that within three years, but the municipality recently decided to end the debt restructuring process after just one and a half years.
350 residents benefit from the new policy, including Thomas. The municipality has released half a million euros to pay their residual debts. “It’s not fun if you end up in debt restructuring,” says a spokesperson. “That’s why we decided to stop after a year and a half. Not only for new registrations, but also for people who were already in debt restructuring.”
The municipality hopes that this will help people get their lives back in order and look to the future again.
“The greatest gain is freedom in time.”
Thomas is happy with it: “I can now close this chapter. It feels like it was decided in the middle of a Champions League final to declare me the winner,” he says. “Of course I’m relieved, but I also had to get used to it. It’s not about the money for me, because I would have liked to pay that off now that I have my life back on track. The biggest benefit is that you can now focus on other things,” says Thomas.
Thomas will now use that time to think about his future. “I am and will remain an entrepreneur. I really want to set up my own company again. But no longer a multi-million dollar company,” says the inhabitant of Bossche with a smile.