Cash-strapped Australians are seeking free financial help from National Debt Helpline
CREDIT card debt and soaring power bills are driving a record number of cash-strapped Australians to seek free financial help, new research says.
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CREDIT card debt and soaring power bills are driving a record number of cash-strapped Australians to seek free financial help.
New statistics from the National Debt Helpline — a independent and free service to help burdened Australians — show its on track this year to receive a record amount of calls since its inception in 2011.
For the first eight months of the year the helpline has already received more than 120,000 calls — the highest ever for this period.
This is up from 115,000 in the same period in 2017.
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The Financial Counselling Service’s executive director, Fiona Guthrie, said in some worst-case scenarios consumers have contacted them after racking up more than $100,000 in credit card debt.
“Credit card debt is a real sleeper in the economy, a recent ASIC report showed that 1.9 million Australians have forms of problem credit card debt,” she said.
“The last few years have seen more people struggling with power bills, particularly people on low, fixed incomes such as Centrelink.”
Latest Reserve Bank of Australia statistics show Australians owe a massive $51.6 billion on credits cards and $32.6 billion is accruing interest.
Many credit card interest rates are above 20 per cent.
The National Debt Helpline is a not-for-profit service offering free assistance from financial counsellors about debt managing debt and fixing a customer’s credit file.
Ms Guthrie also said rising utilities have increased over the past decade by more than 50 per cent, further pulling on customers’ purse strings.
The Consumer Action Law Centre’s chief executive officer, Gerard Brody, warned Australians to be wary of “debt vultures”.
“Don’t be seduced by the debt vultures that advertise all over the internet, radio and TV, these businesses are operating for a profit and claim to solve your debt problems,” he said.
“Our experience is their claims are over unsubstantiated, they are very costly and importantly they are mostly unregulated.”
Struggling Australians are urged to act early if they do encounter issues paying their bills.
Service providers such as banks, utility companies and telcos also offer financial hardship programs that can give cash-strapped customers options such as deferring payments.
Ms Guthrie said the National Debt Helpline has a one-off cash injection 12 months ago but there are concerns when the funding runs out.
For those struggling with their finances they are urged to call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.