Demand For Debt Advice Soars

Fri, 21 Aug 2009

Demand for debt advice has risen considerably this year as more and more Britons struggle to manage their finances .

Calls from troubled borrowers to the National Debtline increased by 20 per cent in the first half of 2009, according to the service which is part of the Money Advice Trust .

The National Debtline also revealed that there were around 60,000 calls went unanswered between January and June, with advisers unable to manage the volume of people needing financial guidance .

The figures are supported by the latest insolvency statistics, which show that the number of personal insolvencies - Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), bankruptcies, and Debt Relief Orders (DROs) - reached a record 33,073 in the second quarter of 2009.

The insolvency data does not include the estimated 700,000 people who are currently on a debt management plan, meaning the actual number of Britons in need of debt support could be much greater.

Debt organisations now fear that there are not enough professional advisers to meet the growing demand.

John Elwes, of Money Advice Trust, said: "It's always difficult to predict demand, but there's definitely more demand than supply across the range of services on offer in the UK."
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