Suffering under the burden of ‘never ending’ debt

Category: Debt
Date: 7/21/2010

The human cost of living with debts has been laid bare by new figures.

Debt problems are putting a huge strain on people's close relationships, their health and their ability to carry out their jobs, according to The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

More than four in five (83%) respondents said their debt problems were having a severe effect on their lives.

More than a third (37%) said debt problems are having a harmful impact on their relationship with their partner and nearly a quarter said relationships with their children had been adversely affected.

The impact debt problems have on relationships may explain why people tend to keep their debt problems a secret.

Only one third of respondents said they share their debt problems with their partner, 20% said their friends and 16% their parents. One in ten respondents said they kept their debt problems a secret, giving reasons such as shame or embarrassment.

Almost half (46%) said debt problems were having a very negative influence on their health, with only 6% saying it had no affect whatsoever.

Some 63% of participants said debt problems are having a negative impact on their ability to do their job, with worries hampering their ability to carry out their duties.

CCCS external affairs director, Delroy Corinaldi, said that while it is old news that debt problems have an adverse effect on people's lives, he was shocked and saddened at the extent of human suffering uncovered by the survey.

"There is a lot of focus on the economic implications of the personal debt crisis but we are only starting to understand the human cost of debt problems," he added

Another surprising revelation was that only 15% of respondents had debt problems because of overspending, with almost half having fallen into debt problems because of redundancy, a pay freeze or reduced working hours.

"This busts the myth that recklessness with credit is the main cause of debt problems. Rather, it is life itself, over which we often have no control. Such people need sympathetic and practical support to guide them through this crisis so that it won't scar them and their families for life," said Mr. Corinaldi.

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