Specialist Debt Advice
(funded by the Legal Services Commission)

The Bureau’s Debt Adviser provides specialist advice to clients, with support from our service Administrator, and faces an ever-increasing demand for the service due to the much-publicised increase in personal debt levels in society. Clients are referred from our General Advice Volunteers at our First Avenue House office, our lawyers at the Royal Courts of Justice office and directly from the High Court. Clients are also referred to us by other advice agencies which do not have access to Specialist Debt Advisers.

The Bureau has been able to provide a range of services over the year, including:

• Advice and assistance to clients who have some form of income and want to negotiate reduced payments with their creditors – we provide targeted advice on income maximisation and general debt management as well as advice on hire purchase, Consumer Credit Act and Mortgage Arrears
• Advice to Clients with access to funds or assets are given advice on options such as the Bureau negotiating ‘full and final settlement’ on their behalf, or being signposted to Insolvency Practitioners for advice and assistance on Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) where appropriate
• Extra help in finding ways to maximise income for clients facing extreme financial hardship, including applying for financial assistance from other charitable organisations to meet essential needs such as paying off gas and electricity and water arrears or for deposits for personal bankruptcy.
• Working with the Bureau’s Bankruptcy Adviser to assist clients who want to petition for personal bankruptcy, including advice on the alternatives to bankruptcy, the implications of bankruptcy and help with completing court forms.

Case Study

Client aged over 70 years old with various health problems and in receipt of pension credit with a debt of about £30k owed to various creditors. Initially the client did not want the Bureau to negotiate with the creditors to write off the debts claiming to be happy to pay them albeit a token payment of £1 per month.

However, a creditor began to telephone on a daily basis, and the client felt unable to cope with the stress – the Bureau suggested the client allow us to ask this particular creditor to write off the debt. Client gave us permission to do so and we wrote a number of letters on their behalf which included medical notes from their GP. The creditor finally accepted our representations and agreed to write off the client’s debt. Based on this, the client agreed to the Bureau negotiating on their behalf with the other creditors to write off the remaining debts.