Calls to money helpline doubles

THE number of people contacting the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) helpline has more than doubled in the past year, with the service expecting to receive 25,000 calls in 2009.

Since the MABS helpline was set up in September 2007, there has been a steady increase in the numbers contacting the service.

However, the past year has seen a massive jump in people contacting MABS seeking help with their finances.

In October 2007, just one month after the helpline was set up, 546 people contacted the service. By October of the following year, this figure had more than doubled to 1,242.

This year the monthly figures have crept over the 2,000 mark for the first time, with a staggering 2,200 people calling MABS last month. That number is expected to hold steady or even increase this month.

Approximately half of all callers to the helpline are from the eastern region and towns near Dublin.

According to Seán Malone, co-ordinator of the MABS Helpline, the profile of the typical caller using the service has altered radically since 2007.

“There is no doubt about it. Early callers to the service were typically on low incomes or social welfare recipients. Now that has changed and we have more middle-income callers who would have been used to two salaries in the household but may now only have one due to redundancy,” he said.

According to MABS, many of the current callers are self-employed in the construction industry.

The service also receives calls from people struggling to deal with mortgage arrears, credit card debts, personal loans and car finance.

“We try to get people to focus on the positive,” Mr Malone said.

“We get a lot of very distressed callers but we send them away more focused and positive. It’s important to point out that the majority of creditors are prepared to sit down and renegotiate or reschedule debts.”

Mr Malone said people have become more educated about seeking help than in the early days of the service.

“In the past people buried their heads in the sand and came in with a plastic bag full of bills and really only sought help when they were in dire straits. However, now people are more engaged in self-help and the helpline is so accessible for people to access that help.”

Approximately 40% of all calls made to the MABS helpline are made anonymously, with the vast majority of the calls made by the woman of the household.

“From about 5.30pm on it goes quiet here as the kids are home from school and people want to keep such troubles away from the children,” said Mr Malone.

* Contact the MABS Helpline on 1890-283438 or visit www.mabs.ie