Credit Crunch

Citizens Advice Bureau under unprecedented demand

The number of people seeking urgent help for debt problems has doubled across the UK in the past year, placing a strain on the services offered by Citizens Advice bureaus.

In Derby recently, queues have been forming outside the city’s Citizens Advice and Law Centre at 7.30am, which is an hour and a half before the office opens.

In the period between July and September, the centre dealt with nearly 900 people who were looking for debt advice, ranging from help with credit cards to advice about making mortgage repayments. In the same period last year, the centre saw just over 400 people.

Now, advisers across the country fear that Christmas could plunge thousands more people into debt as they struggle to pay for presents and cope with the spiralling cost of living.

Peter Reynolds, operations director at the Derby advice centre said, “The number of people coming in with debt inquiries has soared in the last few months and we think this is because of the credit crunch and people worried about bankruptcy and being made redundant.

“But we feel we are still dealing with only the tip of the iceberg. On an average morning when I come in at 7.30am, there are usually four or five people waiting. That rises to 20 or 30 when the doors are opened at 9am. Of those, approximately 10 are debt-related.”

More than a third of debt worries relate to credit, store and charge cards. Loans, housing and bankruptcy are other major issues.

Gillian Bhalla, the debt supervisor at the Derby branch of CAB, said staff were no longer surprised by clients presenting with around £40,000 of debt, and that doesn’t include their mortgages.

Ms Bhalla said, “We expect the number of people contacting us to grow even more because of Christmas and the credit crunch. January and February will be busy.”

Tips on how to manage finances are available at www. citizensadvice.org.uk.