Thursday 11th of June 2009
Debt levels in Scotland are getting out of control, it has been warned.
Kaliani Lyle, chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS), explained that the recession is hitting those on low incomes particularly hard.
"People take out a loan or new credit card because they can’t make ends meet. Then they fall behind with their repayments, so they take out another loan to pay the first one off," she said.
One alternative to this cycle is to seek advice on non-borrowing solutions such as debt management plans, which can help to reduce the amount owed.
Ms Lyle was commenting after CAS published statistics showing that the level of debt among its clients has doubled in the last five years, with these people owing an average of £28 per £1 of monthly income.
She called for both the Holyrood and Westminster governments to address the situation, in order to ensure protection for consumers.
Insolvency practitioner trade body R3 recently suggested that many more people are ‘technically insolvent’ than government figures suggest, as debt management plans are not included in the statistics.
