Recession beginning to really bite

Brian Donaldson • Published 11 Feb 2010 09:45 0 Comments

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The effects of the recession are now only beginning to hit home. Over the past year and 18 months we have heard about the job losses in factories and other workplaces, affecting people with young families who have mortgages to pay.

However we seldom hear about the effect of the recession on people's lives, how it affects their health and their relationships. In a disturbing report on our front page this week, one woman opens up about how her continual debt problem forced her to have psychiatric help. She even worried so much that she wrote a list of debts owed to creditors and gave it to the hospital staff. Eventually she was forced into bankruptcy but a course of action advised by the Citizen's Advice Bureau. Now back with a clean slate, she can try and rebuild her life again without being saddled by crippling debt problems.

But this woman is just the tip of the iceberg. Debt in Fermanagh is spiralling out of control. Last year, the CAB locally dealt with cases of new debt totalling in excess of £4.5 million but more recent figures which showed they dealt with £1.4 million of debt in one month alone.

One of the more disturbing trends is that a person owing money to several creditors such as credit card companies or hire purchase firms are persuaded wrongly to approach loan sharks who grossly worsen the problem further. The extremely high interest used by loan sharks inevitably makes matters worse.

People made redundant is not just about a salary taken away. It greatly affects that person's contribution to the local community in which they live, their shopping trends off themselves and their family. So many other people and services rely on a prosperous economy and when one or two businesses close in an tightknit area, it tends to have a ripple effect throughout that community.

No matter how little or great the debt, there is help at hand. Organisations such as CAB offer a superb service to the community to help people's financial problems and their advice should be sought before taking the matter into your own hands.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 11 Feb 10

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