Debt ‘becoming less of a taboo among couples’

The taboo about debt is shrinking to the point where partners will be more willing than they used to be to reveal to their other half how much they owe.

This is according to a study by the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS), which revealed that only 14,071 people who approached it for debt help last year had not told their partner about this.

Such a figure compares with 16,424 keeping it secret in 2009, while in 2008 the figure was 17,477.

According to the CCCS, this is a positive sign as the strain of dealing with debt problems can be made much worse by people keeping it secret, whereas couples can often deal with a situation better if they act jointly.

Director of external affairs at the charity Delroy Corinaldi commented this is a good thing because "a problem shared is a problem halved".

He suggested the trend represents a sea change in attitude from before the onset of the credit crunch and economic downturn, suggesting: "It may be that people are more aware of the difficulties that debt can cause and are therefore more willing to talk about any problems they may have."

Another party those in debt should share their problems with is people they actually owe money to, director at MyMortgageDirect Catherine Hearnden has stated.

She said that in the case of mortgage lenders, consumers may find they are "quite helpful" as pressure has been placed on banks by the public and politicians to "show compassion" and go easy on those with mortgage arrears and not repossess homes.

Posted by Paul Thacker