Leila (not her real name) believes she would have to work five lifetimes to pay back her debts. Earning about €50,000, she has mortgages on two properties for €380,000 and €315,000 respectively, a €25,000 loan from her brother, a €5,000 loan for a car and a €7,000 personal loan. Her credit card deficit oscillates between €1,500 and €2,000. Her debts are nearly 15 times her income but she is far from unusual.

In 2007, she decided to sell her home and buy a new one. A college graduate, she was earning €75,000 at the time and in a long-term relationship. However, after talking to her broker and people in the property industry she was advised not to sell the first house but instead rent it out.

"I was told it was a good long-term investment and I'd be mad to sell it. Everybody said that if you could afford to hold onto it, keep it," she said.

Leila went to the bank with her partner to secure a mortgage for a new two-bed house but discovered that they'd get better terms if she applied on her own. She did so, intending to eventually sell half of it to her partner. The bank was willing to do this because it took rental income from the second bedroom into account, even though Leila was clear that nobody else would live there.

Then the music stopped, the market crashed, her relationship ended and she was laid off. Her new work as a self-employed consultant paid 33% less. Her tenants then moved out of the rental property and the new rent didn't cover the mortgage.

So now the €4,160 she earns gross goes to pay €1,300 in interest-only payments on her main mortgage, to cover the €400 shortfall between the rent and mortgage on her second property, €210 on life and house insurance, VHI of €75, car tax of €50 with petrol and a mobile for her work coming to a combined €270. She has to pay €150 on her loans and she isn't repaying the €25,000 loan.

Leila doesn't know where the money will come from to pay her tax bill and says the stress has made her physically ill, with bills for doctors and medicine hitting more than €1,000 in the past 12 months.

The bank allowed her make half the normal payments on her main mortgage for three months but has told her she will have to miss payments or partially pay them before they will meet her to assess her options.

"They've fobbed me off consistently. They want me to wait until I come off the interest-only part of the mortgage in January and have to make capital and interest repayments," she said last week, "whereas I want to address the issue as quickly as possible."

She is now considering personal bankruptcy.

Neil Callanan