Hamilton Citizen's Advice urge MSPs to help debt misery

Nov 26 2009 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON Citizens’ Advice Bureau boss has urged county MSPs to help the growing number of people who are 'drowning in debt' in Lanarkshire.

Maureen Chalmers was speaking after Hamilton North and Bellshill CAB in 2008/2009 dealt with almost 10,000 new client issues and secured almost £1.5m in financial gains for its clients.

Over the same period, they dealt with 3560 debt issues totalling a whopping £5,320,438.

Consumer debt represented 71 per cent of all debt issues and 15.1 per cent of all new issues.

The average debt owed by each client was £18,800.13... a full £3764 more than the national average.

In the Hamilton South constituency, Hamilton CAB dealt with 5622 new client issues and secured £1.1m in financial gain for its clients.

In 2008/9, Hamilton CAB dealt with debts totalling £4.2m and 2428 debt issues. Consumer debt represented 69 per cent of all debt issues and 22.2 per cent of all new issues.

The average debt owed was £20,176.19, which was £5140.19 more than the Scottish CAB average of £15,036.

Some of the people who have contacted Hamilton CAB with debt problems in the past year include:

l A couple who both lost their jobs owe more than £83000 to 26 creditors and are about to lose their home.

l A retired woman with care responsibilities for young grandchildren owes more than £35,000 and has taken two low-paid jobs to try to pay the debts, but is at serious risk at losing her home.

l A 20-year-old man who was made redundant and has now found a new low-paid job owes £13,000 to several creditors.

CAB manager Maureen Chalmers said: “These are just a few of the very serious and difficult situations we are supporting people with.

“We have gathered these figures to show our MSPs just how bad this situation is.

“Since the recession began we've been dealing here with growing numbers of people who are facing the misery of unmanageable debt.

“With Christmas coming up, it's particularly distressing to see so many families who simply can't cope.

“Debt is affecting all kinds of people, but a national report released this week by Citizens Advice Scotland has shown that many of those who are worst affected are those who are already among the most vulnerable groups in our society, like lone parents, pensioners and the disabled.

“We call on the local MSPs here to tell us very clearly what they are planning to do to deal with this issue.

“We need to see action in the long-term to make sure our broken economy is fixed so that people never need to face this kind of crisis again. But we also need short-term measures to help those who are currently suffering.

“Too many people in Hamilton, Larkhall, Blantyre and the surrounding communities are drowning in debt. This needs to be addressed now."

And she added: “Fourteen people are currently on a waiting list and during a two-hour period on just one afternoon last week four people with new, multiple debt situations joined the list.

“We have limited resources and with the increasing complexity of individual situations it is difficult to speed up the process."