December 2016 Credit Management magazine

EDUCATION
HOW MUCH DO WE
REALLY CARE?
Sue Chapple FCICM, Executive Board Director of the CICM, was shocked
at the treatment a friend received when he became vulnerable.
I
have spent the majority of my career working
in and around debt, and up until six months
ago I think I was firmly of the ‘can’t pay, won’t
pay’ view of debtors. The majority of people
in debt can afford to pay something. That was
until someone in our social group suddenly found
himself in what we now know to be a ‘vulnerable’
state.
A director of his own successful estate
agency business with an office in an affluent
area experienced the extremely distressing
breakdown of his 20-year marriage and saw
him suffer from acute anxiety and depression.
Due to his illness he was unable to work and
was forced to cut all personal expenditure and
take the drastic decision to sell his business for
nothing so that someone else could take on his
business liabilities, which included paying his six
employees.
This meant that in one fell swoop he had no
access to the internet or income. Even the form to
apply for emergency income support is 93 pages
long, and the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) had
never experienced a situation where someone
was not able to complete it online.
As a group of friends, we have been keen to
help and provide support while, on the advice of
the doctor, trying to ensure that he is able to retain
some kind of independence.
The response from different organisations and
the banks have had the worst impact. I cannot
believe how his main High Street bank has
responded. Despite fully explaining the position
on day one (no income, no job and no ability
to currently change any of that), and pleading
with them to allow some breathing space, within
a couple of weeks of defaulting on credit card
payments, it was sending up to six letters a
week demanding a phone call to explain. All this
despite numerous lengthy letters explaining that
the immediate level of anxiety meant a phone call
of this nature was simply not possible.
After having banked with them for 40
years, I had expected there may be greater
understanding. After eventually complaining, he
was offered £120 as compensation, but advised
that it had to be paid into his overdrawn account.
This was the final straw, and as a result a number
of us in the group have now moved our accounts.
A few weeks ago he was close to being able
to look for work again. I called the Job Centre
three times (calls go to a national call office) and
waited 40 minutes on each call. I was told no
appointment was needed and he just had to turn
up at the Job Centre, only to be confronted with
a look of surprise from the receptionist when he
arrived with her stating that she had no idea why
we had been told that. No surprises - but the form
we needed to complete was also online. This event
again increased anxiety and distress.
Seeing first-hand how quickly someone can
become vulnerable has really opened my eyes.
Anyone could experience emotional breakdown
without warning. What is most shocking to me
is how suddenly and quickly you can go from
relative financial stability to trying to survive on
£73 a week unemployment benefits; that’s barely
enough to keep petrol in your car, especially when
you consider his case and the number of doctors’
appointments he has had to attend.
My friend is in the largest demographic of
those that find themselves in this situation. A
single man with grown-up children that has
recently, for the first time in his working life,
become unemployed. Yet because of his lack of
dependants – both his children are at university
– he has been put to the back of the queue. Why
are the systems and processes in place so stacked
against those that need the most help?
So what can we do to help? Certainly those
in the debt industry can help by giving those
experiencing difficulties some breathing space.
By ensuring that the staff on the front-line actually
deliver the services and empathy that we all hear
is in place at strategic level. Given the right help
he could have been back on his feet by now. This
man is not a criminal out to defraud the system
and take advantage of the state and society; he is a
good man who has fallen on hard times.
It was this experience that prompted me to get
involved in the new CICM Vulnerability Group,
which I am hopeful will go some way towards
helping our staff to spot vulnerability and provide
the right level of empathy to help those that are
suffering. Statistics show that individuals, such
as our friend, recover and return to being good
customers – and they will remain loyal to the
support provided.
To find out more about the CICM’s Vulnerability
Group visit the news section at www.cicm.com.
20 December 2016 www.cicm.com
The recognised standard