Hundreds of thousands of Scots may have missed a debt repayment in the last year as they struggle with the cost of living crisis and rising bills.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) has warned of a tidal wave of missed repayments occurring each month according to their analysis of poll data.
It says that many people are trapped in a “vicious circle” of complex debt where they owe money to more than one source and find themselves continually borrowing more as their income does not catch up with their outgoings when repayments are factored in.
The charity analysed surveys from research company YouGov, which found that eight per cent of people had missed a debt repayment at least once in the past year.
The organisation said that equates to 368,249 people when Scotland’s population as a whole is taken into account.
CAS has previously warned that nearly one in ten people Scotland have seen their mental health and wellbeing has been affected by spiralling debt.
It launched a campaign earlier this year to encourage people to seek advice if they are worried about their debts, as research showed more than half a million Scots say debt is impacting their mental health.
Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) is running the “Stressed about Debt” campaign, which encourages people who are worried about their bills or stressed about debt to seek advice from the Citizens Advice network.
Speaking previously about the impact of debt on mental health, CAS financial health spokesperson Sarah Jayne Dunn said: “There is a clear link between money and mental health and that will have been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis.
“Hundreds of thousands of people across the country, through no fault of their own have fallen behind on bills and find themselves in debt. Some people will be in debt for the first time, others will have seen their existing debt get worse.
“There’s no shame in having debt, and it’s completely understandable to be stressed and anxious about it. For many people, debt is something they ignore until it builds up and becomes overwhelming.
“That’s why we’ve launched the Stressed about Debt campaign, to encourage people who are worried to seek advice and not let those worries build up until they are suffocating."
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The charity is urging those struggling to repay debts to go to the CAS website, where they can select an advice route tailored to their needs, such as online self-help tools, online advice pages or one to one advice from their local Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB).
The CAB service also helps improve people’s financial situation, and for some this includes facilitating debt write -offs.
Since last spring, CABs have helped write off more than £11 million worth of debt, with the average amount cancelled being over £12,600 per client. The value of debt dealt with by CABs last winter was £23 million.
This represents a 25 per cent increase in the value of debt brought to CABs and a 17 per cent increase in people seeking debt advice compared to last year.
The average of ‘complex’ debt reported to CAS was £8,876.17. A complex debt is when someone is seeking debt advice for multiple debts at once.
CAS Financial Health spokesperson Myles Fitt said: “There is a vicious cycle element to debt, especially during a cost-of-living crisis. Your income isn’t covering your outgoings to you fall into debt as a result – either through using commercial credit or falling behind on your bills to creditors. But the cost of those additional repayments means your income needs to stretch even further and suddenly you are trapped in a vicious cycle.
“We want people who are stressed about their debts to seek advice and support from the Citizens Advice network. You don’t need to go to a CAB in-person to get advice, instead you can check our online advice pages or use our interactive self-help tools.
“Our network gets real results for people – last year people who saw a gain having sought advice were more than £3,700 better off. Our advice is impartial, confidential and crucially free – we don’t charge for our advice, and we never will.”
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