M for Mental health

According to Credit Action’s December debt statistics, the average UK adult owes almost £30,000.

Debt has become a part of everyday life. One of the things that make me really sad, therefore, is hearing about individuals who have ended their lives because they are faced with around £20,000 of debt. Although that can seem like a huge amount of money, proportionally it is less than the average adult owes, and is a debt amount that is manageable.

The typical customer I am faced with has between £20,000 and £30,000 in unsecured debt. They are likely to have high credit card debt, and more than one payday loan. The amount they owe can seem insurmountable, but it really isn’t.

What happens all too often is that people tell me “Oh, I wish I’d met you years ago”. They have been allowing their debts to mount up because they are just simply not aware of the options out there.

Having said that, most of my clients owe relatively small amounts, one individual, Lucy, I helped recently owed around £100,000. Most people in the past are regrettably unaware that debt management can be done, they suffer in silence and it can be a tremendous trauma for them. Lucy actually told me that she’d been so worried about her debt she’d even contemplated suicide.

She’d recently split up with her partner, and as the higher earner had been paying the greater share of the mortgage. She also used to travel a lot for work, so had racked up excessive credit card costs through business.  She didn’t want to lose the house, so after doing an extensive income/expenditure we decided to put her on a DMP. Although this means she will be paying back the debt slowly over a long period of time, the letters, phone calls and emails from creditors have all stopped.

People don’t recognise the link between debt and mental health enough, I don’t think. That’s why it’s so encouraging that organisations and associations in our sector are engaging with the OFT on mental health guidance to ensure best practice.