People ‘going without food to pay off debt’

Jun 24 2009 by Gordon Robertson, Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser

MONKLANDS people are struggling so badly with debt that some are even going without meals as they try to pay off their arrears, it has been claimed.

The Citizens Advice Bureau service in Scotland released a report dubbed Drowning in Debt, which shows the levels of debt among their clients has doubled over the last five years.

Coatbridge CAB manager Norma MacDonald said: “I am not surprised at all that the Scotland-wide figures show a doubling of debt across the country. Our local statistics here show the same trend.

“For people on low incomes, or those who have lost their job, the recession has brought a ‘perfect storm’ of dangerous economic conditions. Incomes are falling, prices are rising, lenders are becoming less patient and sources of affordable credit are disappearing.

“In these circumstances, many people can’t make ends meet and are having to go into debt just to get by.

“But of course debt breeds debt. When someone falls behind with a loan repayment, they often take out another loan to pay the first one off.

“Then they fall behind again and have to take out a further loan to pay off that one.

“Before they know it, they are hopelessly in debt and can’t see a way out.

“Some local people have told us that they have chosen to forego meals or turn the heating down in order to try to pay off their debts. It’s a desperate situation.”

The Scotland-wide report by Citizens Advice Scotland shows that nine out of 10 CAB debt clients across the country felt that their debt had affected their mental health and that two out of five had gone without essentials in order to try to pay off their debt.

Eileen McKenna, managing director of Airdrie CAB, confirms that these figures are representative of the situation locally.

“It is certainly true that we are seeing more and more clients who are in debt, that the average levels of debt are higher than we’ve ever seen before, and that this is affecting people in all sorts of ways.

“For example, an elderly female contacted the Bureau about multiple debt. She had 15 credit cards, four store cards, an overdraft and a bank loan with debt in the region of £132k. In the past year, we have dealt with £6,677,501 client debts. We normally deal with a maximum of 17 sequestrations each year but this year we have had to deal with 80.”

Both Monklands branches of CAB now want politicians to address “this growing debt crisis”.

They want to meet with MPs and MSPs to discuss what can be done.