A diary of a debt adviser

beanielou

fermi wrote: »

That looks handy.

I'll [STRIKE]pester you via[/STRIKE] try that sometime.....

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

National_Debtline

Hi all,



Yesterday we published our 'Chaging Household Budgets' report. You may have seen or heard our Chief Executive, Joanna Elson on the BBC. Here's a bit of further info:

National debt advice charity the Money Advice Trust today reports that more households are becoming susceptible to serious debt problems. A study into household budgets and debt has revealed that more people are falling into debt because they can’t afford basic household bills such as energy bills, water bills, telephone bills, and council tax. In 2013 the charity’s National Debtline service helped people repay more than 150,000 different household bill debts – a rise of 140 per cent since 2007.

The charity’s National Debtline service has seen a radical shift in the types of debt problems it helps people resolve. More people than ever before now need help with energy debts, water debts, telephone debts, council tax debts, and catalogue shopping debts – whilst less people report problems with traditional credit products such as bank overdrafts, loans and credit cards.

Some statistics from National Debtline

• Calls for help with council tax arrears have gone up 95 per cent since 2007
• Calls for help with catalogue arrears have gone up 97 per cent since 2007
• Calls for help with energy arrears have gone up 171 per cent since 2007
• Calls for help with telephone arrears have gone up 230 per cent since 2007
• Calls for help with water arrears have gone up 305 per cent since 2007

I'm wondering if any of you identify with our findings. It certainly appears that our callers have less and less 'surplus' money that could be used for the repayment of debt. Although we constantly see lots in the media about the green shoots of recovery I'm not certain that the majority of us have seen any significant change at ground level, so to speak.

You can download the report here, I would be really keen to learn your thoughts.

Best wishes,

David.

Tixy

Hi David

Sorry to tag this on to this thread but I wanted to bring it to your attention and we cannot pm you and I guess you will see it here.

Have you see this post?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/65782185#Comment_65782185
which has a query on the content of one of your factsheets.
I have no idea if the factsheet is correct or if the points raised are valid but thought you may want to look in to it.

National_Debtline

Hi there,

Thanks for alerting me to the post. The fact sheets are written to comply with plain English rules, this means that technical intricacies can often get lost in translation. I think the fees outlined on the website are representative of the different stages of the taking control of goods process and we do indicate that there can be further charges for interest. All that said I will send a copy of the post over to our information team as we may look to improve the language used so as to minimise confusion.

As regards the £75 fee, given the callers we've spoken to since April it appears that it is being applied as a matter of course.

Really grateful for your input.

Thank you so much!

David

National_Debtline

Hello all,

It's been a while since I last posted - so apologies for that. I've had some time off which I spent in beautiful Somerset.

You may know that National Debtline is just one organisation that falls under the umbrella of our parent organisation The Money Advice Trust. Each year, the Trust produces a document which measures the impact our various organisations has. We call this our impact statement. To give you a flavour of what we have achieved in 2013/2014 here are some bullet points:

• We helped almost one million people directly (through our client services and indirectly through training advisers who helped people)
• 82% of NDL users felt more in control and knowledgeable following our advice
• 54% of BDL callers were able to overcome their immediate problems and continue to trade
• 79% of advisers using Wiseradviser training found it improved their knowledge of money advice substantially

A selection of quotes from users:

• 'Your services helped me to stop being afraid to handle my own finances and to pay my debts' (Business Debtline user)
• 'Your staff were non judgemental, knowledgeable and very helpful, I can sleep at night now' (National Debtline user)
• 'Your training means I am confident I am following the correct procedures' (Wiseradviser user)

From the perspective of a money adviser, it is great to know that we really make a difference to a very large number of people. It certainly helps me strive to do the best I can to help people, and I know that my colleagues feel the same way.

If you fancy having a look at the statement, here it is:
http://www.moneyadvicetrust.org/media/news/Pages/Impact-Statement.aspx

Best wishes,

David.

National_Debtline

Hello all,

Hope you've all been keeping well. I've had some more time off (graduating from a university course I've been doing in my spare time, so celebrating after five years of studying!). It's good to be back!

A lot has been happening here at National Debtline. Our new web chat facility has extended its hours to meet the opening hours of the telephone system. That means that we can answer your queries until 9pm at night in the week. If you fancy dropping us a line you do do so here: http://178.251.239.87/webchatasp/

We also welcome a new member to our online team. Look out for Regina who is joining Rosie, Dennis and I. I'm sure she'll be posting on here soon. Regina has a great deal of business debt experience, she also looks after the Business Debtline Twitter account. You can follow Business Debtline @Biz_Debtline. You can also follow Dennis and I @Natdebtline.

Regina and I both started on the same day, way back in 2006. In that time we've seen the service grow significantly to meet demand. We've expanded the office space too - but it's still a bit of a squeeze!

Next up is a brand new Business Debtline website, we're hoping that this *should* be live within the next few weeks. We will then be looking to further enhance our online advice system, My Money Steps.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away.

Best wishes,

David.

VeronicaMars

Congratulations on graduating! :T:j:beer:

ZTD

National_Debtline wrote: »

A lot has been happening here at National Debtline. Our new web chat facility has extended its hours to meet the opening hours of the telephone system. That means that we can answer your queries until 9pm at night in the week. If you fancy dropping us a line you do do so here:
<snip>

Don't use an IP address for this link. Go to your IT people and get a FQDN out of them (they will know what that means) and come back and edit your post. Otherwise that IP address will be stuck in Google forever and a day and will cause problems if your organisation ever makes changes (and you will).

I've deliberately not quoted it so that Google has less to remember... :rotfl:

National_Debtline

ZTD wrote: »

Don't use an IP address for this link. Go to your IT people and get a FQDN out of them (they will know what that means) and come back and edit your post. Otherwise that IP address will be stuck in Google forever and a day and will cause problems if your organisation ever makes changes (and you will).

I've deliberately not quoted it so that Google has less to remember... :rotfl:

That's how it is on our system at the mo. But I shall report your comments to our IT team. Makes a lot of sense!

Thank you,

David.

beanielou

Congratulations David on your graduation