Debt cases treble reports Leicester Money Advice

Leicester Money Advice is reporting a huge rise in the number of people seeking help with debt problems.

According to latest figures, the agency’s advisers opened 1700 new cases in the year ended September 2007 – almost three times as many as in the same period of 2006.

And the value of the debt owed by people seen at Leicester Money Advice is also mounting up, bringing the total figure recorded to a new high of £12.5 million.

Higher interest rates, mortgage rate rises and spending on credit cards are all contributing to the increase – with the agency’s advisers seeing 140 people a month in the 12 months to September 2007.

Leicester Money Advice attribute their ability to meet the demand for debt advice as a direct result of their successful growth through the Financial Inclusion Fund.  Leicester Money Advice was instrumental in establishing the recently formed EMMA, East Midlands Money Advice, partnership, for £4.2 million to increase face-to-face debt advice, bringing five new adviser posts to its City Centre offices.  Additionally, LMA is one of 21 agencies nationally, selected to take part in the two-year Money Advice Outreach Pilot which targets its services to specific client groups’.

Leicester Money Advice –is an independent debt support service – that provides  free debt counselling, including negotiating with creditors and can represent people in court.

Last December LMA received the Matrix Quality Standard for the professional way in which its services are delivered.  A spokesperson for LMA said ‘ We place a great deal of importance on customer care and the way in which our services are delivered and this award is a great endorsement of this and demonstrates that our customers recognise and value the level of service they receive’.

Based in Epic House, Charles Street, it runs outreach projects at 12 locations around the city and is unique in having its own office within Leicester County Court.

A not for profit organisation which has been advising Leicester people for more than 25 years, LMA also operates Debtline, a confidential debt advice telephone helpline.

LMA’s Executive Director Kathryn Burgess said: “We have seen in the news that personal debt in the UK has reached levels in excess of £1 trillion and Leicester, like anywhere else, has its share of consumers struggling to manage to meet their commitments. 

“The problem is very much across the board, with money worries affecting people of all ages and from all backgrounds, not just those on low incomes.

“It’s tough coping with debt but at least in Leicester those people who are in financial difficulty can turn to us for free specialist, confidential advice.”

Other statistics show that in the year to September 2007, Debtline dealt with around 1400 calls – around the same number as the previous year – while the county court office  advised on 1300 cases; 300 up on the year before.

Similarly, the number of debt cases which have since been closed came to 1400 in 2006/2007 compared with 900 in the same period last year.