Whether you’re a millionaire or receiving Centrelink payments, a Salvos financial counsellor wants to help Illawarra residents experiencing credit and debt issues.
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Rosalind Powell is a financial counsellor with the Salvation Army Moneycare program in the Illawarra.
“Poverty is increasing within the Illawarra area,” she said.
“I am seeing an increased amount of clients, but my concern is there are still a lot of people in the area who are not aware of the service we can provide.
“I know there's a lot more people out there that need this kind of help.”
The Salvation Army's Moneycare service provides free and confidential financial counselling.
“I start by doing a budget,” Ms Powell said.
“The person can be on Centrelink or a millionaire - there is no discrimination.
“I can then look at what is causing the financial difficulties - credit cards, payday lenders, mortgages - and I am then able to negotiate with creditors on what can be done to relieve the situation for a time.
“This can include making some type of payment arrangements... It's a matter of just talking to the creditors.
“Too many people think that, ‘oh, it’s only somebody on Centrelink or they're broke people’ (that get into difficulty) and it's just so far from that.
“It can be anybody - people on Newstart or disability payments, people with their own businesses. You just don't know who's going to walk through the door.”
The program aims to assist with issues such as difficulty paying debts or fines, experiencing harassment from creditors or debt collectors, facing legal action regarding debts, dealing with car or house repossession, concerns about being evicted from home or struggling to live on a low income.
Based in the Illawarra, Ms Powell typically sees two clients a day.
However, she emphasised that she doesn’t provide financial advice or loans.
“It’s often telephone bills and things like that,” she said of the cause of clients’ issues.
“People get themselves into a lot of debt with Telstra and Optus, not realising some of the details of contracts.
“My line of work is negotiating, and then it's a matter of getting on to payment plans.”
Ms Powell said some people who sought her help were potentially ready to apply for bankruptcy.
“But my thoughts along those lines are that I try and have people not do bankruptcy,” she said.
“I try and go around it some other way, and see if there's other avenues they can take.”
For more information on Ms Powell’s services, phone 0439 803 878.
