The relief was palpable, as hundreds were unshackled of $1.2 million of debts and bill stresses at a record-breaking Bring Your Bills event at Springvale City Hall on 24 February.
South East Community Links chief executive Peter McNamara said the results nearly doubled the savings achieved at last year’s event in Springvale ($646,000).
For the 350 attendees, a whopping 96 per cent reported reduced financial stress. They received 200-plus waivers, grants and hardship payment plans worth $628,000.
“The relief is visual, you see a smile and the colour return to their faces,” McNamara said.
Bring Your Bills offers practical, on-the-spot help with their utility bills, fines, rents, loans, Centrelink issues and other money worries.
On hand were financial counsellors and interpreters as well as staff from banks, utility companies and ombudsmen to offer waivers, grants and hardship payment plans.
Tellingly, attendees won an average of $3500 in financial relief – up from about $2000 per person last year.
It tells a story of success, but also of alarmingly rising and complex debt burdens, McNamara says.
The most common stressors were energy and water bills (44 per cent) and Centrelink entitlements (23 per cent). However, they were often accompanied by a multitude of financial pains.
“Our data shows that if you are renting you have on average five (financial) issues and if paying a mortgage you have on average three issues – these are on top of paying the rent-mortgage,” McNamara says.
“We’re seeing people who are working, sometimes in two jobs, and still struggling to keep up.
“This is no longer just about unemployment, it’s about affordability.
“People aren’t ignoring their money problems, they simply don’t have enough left at the end of the week.”
A vast majority at the Springvale event (75 per cent) hadn’t previously asked for help before.
McNamara says it shows cost-of-living pressure is spreading beyond people on Centrelink payments to middle-income families.
“More people are reaching a tipping point.
“By the time families have paid rent or their mortgage, there’s often very little left for energy and water bills, groceries or school expenses.”
One advantage of Bring Your Bills was that people could talk immediately with service providers, rather than enduring a phone queue for up to three hours, he says.
“Now who has that much spare time to wait?
“Also being sent on-line where there are directed to ‘click’ after ‘click’ for the most basic query.
“I suspect some the systems (phone and on-line) are designed to be slow and delayed to trap people in.
“Let’s be honest some of the phone based systems are incredibly inefficient and poorly staffed.
“This is why placed based services are essential to connect people, address issues in a timely manner, as well as to maintain trust.”
