December Spending Leads to a Busy January for the Clear Start Debt Helpline

The high streets had a very busy Christmas in 2005 with average weekly spending amounting to £6,400 million. Although this was good news for retailers, over-spending in December has hit consumers hard in January.

Clear Start, the UK’s national consumer debt service has recorded record numbers of calls to its helpline this January. Calls to Clear Start in January increased by 123% against the number made in December.

Clear Start says the increase in calls is not just because of consumer spending, but also and more importantly, because people realise that help is at hand.

The fact that the vast majority of people calling the Clear Start debt helpline were interested in IVAs shows that people are aware of the solutions on offer. And given the advantages of an IVA to both a debtor and creditor, Clear Start believes that this growing awareness is a very good thing.