Exeter fears debt crisis

Exeter’s Citizen’s Advice Bureaux (CAB) is finding it difficult to cope with the scale of demand for advice on becoming debt free, while bankruptcy declarations have become far more prevalent than last year, according to figures from the local Crown Court.

And the amounts of money being owed by Exeter residents approaching the CAB for debt advice has reached an average of £14,000, reports the Exeter Express & Echo.

“Credit is very easy to get, but people aren’t always savvy enough to take advantage of deals without getting themselves further into debt,” the former director of the city’s CAB Matthew Brown told the local news provider.

“There are far more people than we can deal with to the extent that we would like,” he added.

Last month Citizens Advice revealed that demand for its debt advice services nationwide rose by 15 per cent between January 2006 and January this year.