In August 2012 I defaulted on a credit card debt. We were in a right mess at the time. It's taken years to sort our finances out but we have- we now budget very, very carefully and prioritise debt repayments after rent and childcare. We haven't made a late payment on anything since. We still have a bit of debt on two credit cards; one is OK interest and one is eye watering. We've been plugging away and expected to be totally free of debt in 15 months time.
I checked my credit file today and the default has dropped off! More in hope than expectation I used the MSE tool to see if I would be eligible for any decent 0% balance transfer cards... and it said I had a 95% chance of being accepted for quite a few. So I applied, and was accepted, and have already arranged to transfer the full balance from my most expensive card, and all but £400 of the less expensive card. All we have to do now is stick to our budget (which we have been managing fine for the past few months) and we'll have paid it all off, completely and utterly, next March. 8 months earlier than I planned so that's 8 months expected debt repayments which can go to savings instead...
Six years ago I thought we'd never be free of debt. I've spent so many nights crying over the bloody spreadsheet and now an end is in sight :)