This week is Debt Awareness Week 2024 – an annual event led by the UK’s leading provider of free debt advice, StepChange.
We’re proud to be supporting the charity’s 10th Debt Awareness Week, which aims to increase awareness of problem debt, and the solutions available to help.
Amid the cost-of-living crisis, it’s more important than ever that people experiencing financial difficulty have access to debt advice. Despite this more than half of StepChange clients surveyed* wait over a year to get help, and like anything, delaying usually only makes the situation worse.
That’s why this Debt Awareness Week, StepChange is addressing the five most common barriers to debt advice. These are:
- Not understanding what debt advice is
- Mental health and vulnerabilities
- Fear about the impact on credit scores or not being able to borrow money
- Not having the time to get help
- Shame and stigma
Debt Awareness Week provides the opportunity to raise awareness and break down these barriers, encouraging more people to seek help should they need it.
We want to support all our residents. If you are struggling with your finances, then you can get free, impartial, and completely confidential advice from StepChange. Nobody will know that you’ve spoken to StepChange and getting debt advice will have no impact on your credit score.
StepChange’s 60-second debt test, can help you understand if you may need additional support and can help direct you towards whatever will help you most. You can also start debt advice online, and their expert advisors are on hand if you need some extra help.
To find out more about the services StepChange offer, visit stepchange.org.
You can get involved with Debt Awareness Week on social media by visiting StepChange’s pages, or using the hashtag #DebtAwarenessWeek2024, where StepChange will be sharing key info, insight, and content – all centred around breaking down these five barriers.