NATION Big load on Debt Helpline

CREDIT card debt and soaring power bills are driving a record number of cash- strapped Australians to seek free financial help.

New statistics from the National Debt Helpline – an independent and free service to help burdened Australians – show it’s on track this year to receive a record amount of calls since its inception in 2011.

For the first eight months of the year the helpline has already received more than 120,000 calls – the highest ever for this period.

This is up from 115,000 in the same period in 2017.

The Financial Counselling Service’s executive director, Fiona Guthrie, said in some worst- case scenarios consumers have contacted them after racking up more than $ 100,000 in credit card debt.

“Credit card debt is a real sleeper in the economy, a recent ASIC report showed that 1.9 million Australians have forms of problem credit card debt,” she said.

“The last few years have seen more people struggling with power bills, particularly people on low, fixed incomes such as Centrelink.”

Latest Reserve Bank of Australia statistics show Australians owe a massive $ 51.6 billion on credits cards and $ 32.6 billion accrues interest.

Many credit card interest rates are above 20 per cent.

The National Debt Helpline is a not- for- profit service offering assistance from financial counsellors about managing debt and fixing credit files.

Ms Guthrie also said rising utilities have increased over the past decade by more than 50 per cent, further pulling on customers’ purse strings.