Church Members Offer Debt Advice To Colchester Residents

Thu, 05 May 2011

Church goers in Colchester have teamed up with a charity to help offer advice to people in the local area who are struggling to cope with debt .

Nigel Drew, Martin Hill and Julie Weighill – who all have financial experience through their jobs – have been funded by Stanway Evangelical Church to work as money coaches with Christians Against Poverty.

They have been trained to provide free, confidential courses for people to review their spending, stay clear from credit and take control of their finances .

"It’s about helping everyone to manage their money better – not necessarily just those who are in serious trouble," said former banker Mr Drew, 39.

"We want to help people look at their budget and understand if there is a problem or not, to prioritise their debts and work out repayments. And we want to help people get off credit ."

"We have so many problems caused by credit that weren’t an issue for previous generations because they weren't so dependent on it. But more recently credit has been so freely available that people haven’t worried about it and we’ve just spent and spent."

"Now there is not much credit and people have less ready cash, but they are still having to pay their debts from better years."

Martin Hill added: "The main reason we do it is because we see debt ruining lives. It causes people to commit suicide and marriages start to crack under the strain of financial pressure."

"We want to prevent people getting into debt in the first place, help those who are in debt and get them back in control."

Stanway Evangelical Church is currently the only church in the Colchester area offering the charity’s services, but it is hoped others will follow suit and offer similar support to those in debt.
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