Welcome to the latest edition of my blog and I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
The focus of this weeks posting is on the stigma associated with debt.
New research from R3, the insolvency trade body, shows that there is still unnecessary stigma attached to seeking debt help and as result people who do not take debt management options well on time, sink deeper into the debt trap.
The latest figures from R3 reveal that 30 per cent of people who face financial trouble do not even inform their immediate family about it. The study further reveals that 19 per cent of people cannot face opening their bills at the end of the month.
The research adequately highlights the fact that this unnecessary embarrassment and fear is hindering people from accessing appropriate debt management advice and as a result they are letting their amount of debt accumulate.
Labelling this as a “damming spiral of personal debt,” R3 President Peter Sargent commented, “even after a long recession people are still terrified to ‘own up’ to debt problems. Yet this ultimately makes the issue worse – we know there is a group who are not addressing their financial problems and can’t even come clean to partners or family about them.”
He further revealed that 21 per cent of those struggling with debts did not know where to turn for financial help, despite the plethora of debt management companies available to lend support to consumers.
Another interesting finding of the report was that 90 percent of those facing hardship felt that money management should become part of the school curriculum.
Meanwhile, a poll of 3,000 people conducted by a financial services website yesterday shows that the average person now holds personal debts in excess of £6,000. This further highlights the need for debt management plans.
As always, help is on hand if you are struggling with debts and as previously mentioned in this blog, you really aren’t alone. If there is one important lesson to take from this is that acting now can make all the difference.
I hope you have a lovely week and hopefully the weather holds out for the bank holiday weekend.
Tags: Debt Advice, Debt Help, debt management, Debt Problems