Three advice charities will release a major report later this year, and want people to share their debt experiences with them.
People who fall into debt have been encouraged to come forward and share their problems with Citizens Advice.
The charity announced today that it will be working with colleagues at National Debtline and Advice UK on developing a "major" consultation of people's debt problems, to go towards the launch of a report later in the year. To highlight the scale of the problem, the charity pointed out that one million people in England and Wales contacted its Bureaux (CABs) over the past year in order to seek help with debt problems.
Another reason behind the development of this project, the charity said, was the occasionally unsympathetic attitude of the credit industry to people in debt, especially if they conduct negotiations themselves rather than going through an advice charity. Creditor liason policy officer at Citizens Advice, Alex MacDermott, commented: "We are seeing more and more clients coming back and telling us that their offers won't be looked at unless they are endorsed by a third party such as their local CAB."
The overall aim of the project, the charity added in a statement, was to "make recommendations for changes in current practice, so that everyone can more easily access good quality advice and information, become debt free and get back on track with their finances".
