Unemployed getting caught in debt trap

ONE-in-five unemployed borrowers owe more than €25,000 in unsecured debts and loans. And many other jobless, it emerged, are also failing to seek money advice.

A survey of the unemployed examined the extent to which borrowers were behind in payments; how many debts they were carrying, along with which types of bills they were struggling to pay.

Credit card debts, unpaid utility bills and changed circumstances —such as a pregnancy —were contributing to mounting debts for unemployed borrowers, researchers noted.