Australians using National Debt Helpline up 12 percent on 2023

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There's been a significant increase in the number of people reaching out to the National Debt Helpline over the last year. Nearly 170 thousand people called or used the online chat tool to seek help that's a 12 per cent increase on 2023.

Transcript

00:00What people are telling us is that this has been the third year of people doing it tough.

00:09And so I think for the first two years, people were doing everything they could to try and

00:15make ends meet, dipping into those savings, things like that, but coming to that third

00:22year now, and so people are now reaching out for help.

00:26So it means this third year they're actually going into debt to make ends meet, or they're

00:30not making ends meet, simply to get by.

00:32Yeah, one of the main reasons why people are calling the National Debt Helpline is because

00:37of housing stress.

00:40So maybe those mortgage repayments or the rent, they're worried about falling behind

00:46on those things.

00:47And what we find is when they contact the National Debt Helpline, often that's their

00:53main concern, but usually there are other bills that have also gone unpaid, things

00:59like your electricity and those sorts of things.

01:02What are some of the individual stories, Vicki, that you've been told on the helpline that

01:06have stuck out for you?

01:10One of the stories that we heard towards the end of 2024, which really became quite a typical

01:17sort of call, was from someone who was working, and their partner was also working, and they

01:26had a mortgage, and so really what we were seeing for the first time was people coming

01:32through who were double income, who weren't able to afford things like their housing and

01:38things like their utilities and their bills.

01:41But what we were able to do when that person did call through to the National Debt Helpline,

01:47the financial counsellor was able to talk through with that person about what their

01:52hardship options were, and it was a good news story, because the person who called didn't

01:59realise that they had a range of options available to them.

02:03Some people may think that there's no point in getting in touch, thinking, I haven't got

02:07enough cash coming in to cover my expenses, short of giving me more money, what help can

02:12you give me?

02:13Yeah, exactly.

02:14So one of the things that a lot of people aren't aware of is that banks and other organisations

02:22that people deal with on a regular basis, they're required to offer a range of financial

02:29hardship options to their customers.

02:32So often it's a case of people just not knowing what they don't know, and so that's where

02:37financial counsellors can really share that information with people, and also work through

02:43with them what option is going to be best for their situation as well.

02:48Can you help everyone who gets in touch, Vicki?

02:50Look, the National Debt Helpline is available to everyone, it is not means tested.

02:55You can contact via the phone line, which is 1800 007 007.

03:00You can use the chat function on the website, which is ndh.org.au, or you can go onto the

03:07website yourself and just have a look through some of the great resources that are there

03:11online.

03:12And when someone does contact you, what can they expect?

03:15What information do they need to give you for you to be able to offer some help?

03:19So our financial counsellors are highly trained, and for them it's about creating a safe space

03:26for people to be able to share what's going on for them.

03:30So usually it's a question of, you know, what's brought you to the National Debt Helpline

03:34today?

03:35And that gets that conversation going, but what we do find, as I mentioned before, is

03:39that often there's more than one issue that needs to be dealt with.

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