Thousands call CAB each day with debt problems

The number of people struggling with debt problems has been highlighted by the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) after it emerged that the independent charity is taking around 9,300 new debt cases each day.

The figures have been released to celebrate 70 years of the charity, which was originally established to help people with war-related problems.

However, it now provides information and advice to help people with their money, legal, consumer and other problems and handles around six million cases a year.

It appears, though, that the recession continues to have a major impact on individual’s finances after the number of people contacting the Bureau (because they were struggling to keep up with repayments) soared by more than a quarter during the April to June period.

The group points out that there has been a growing increase in the number of people falling behind on their mortgage payments (up 44%), redundancy- related problems (up 75%) or problems with paying fuel bills (up 53%).

Furthermore, the charity said enquiries about benefits were up almost a quarter (22%) compared with the same time last year.

David Harker, the CAB’s chief executive, said: “From rationing to recession, the CAB has been there for people in times of crisis throughout all the past 70 years.”

“As we celebrate our 70th birthday our new figures show that what started out as an emergency service in wartime is needed now more than ever as the recession continues to take its toll on people’s lives,” added Mr Harker.

Discuss this in the Finance Markets forums

Story link: Thousands call CAB each day with debt problems