People in the Leeds area struggling with overwhelming debt are set to get free help from an acclaimed charity opening two new centres this month.
Growing debt counselling charity Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has partnered with Wharfedale Vineyard and Bridge Street Pentecostal to bring its in-depth service to the East and South of the city as well as offering the free service to the people of Wharfedale for the first time.
Leeds, which now has a total of four CAP centres, is one of 16 places in the UK opening a new centre during April - rare good news for people who are seeing the biggest squeeze to their income since the two world wars, according to a new report by the Centre for Economic and Business Research.
CAP offers people a uniquely in-depth, caring service to people with spiralling personal debt. Every client is visited in their own home and supported face-to-face until the day they are debt free.
The free debt counselling has been described as “unsurpassed” by TV’s Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis and “staggering” by Prince Charles when he visited a centre last year.
CAP’s CEO Matt Barlow said: “Our experience shows that there will be a huge amount of people in Leeds who believe there is no hope left.
“Very likely their debt will have been caused by a change in circumstances such as job loss, pay cuts, illness or relationship breakdown.
“Creditors will be ringing all day, the letters will be piling up and their sleep, health and relationships will all be suffering. Yet all this is often hidden because of the shame attached.
Leeds East and South centre manager Malcolm Lamb said: “We’re just so pleased to be able to partner the care of our church with the financial expertise of CAP’s head office in Bradford, Yorkshire. However bad a situation can look, we know we will be able provide a hope and a solution.
“CAP saw 71 people become debt free last month. We’re delighted to think that in the future, some of those will be from these new areas of Leeds.”
The charity has 160 centres around the UK currently supporting £66m of secondary debts for its clients regardless of income, age, gender, background or faith.
About Christians Against Poverty:
Christians Against Poverty is a home-grown debt counselling charity which is determined to reduce poverty in the UK caused by debt. It partners its financial expertise with the care of the local church to offer free debt help and a solution to people through 160 centres. The fast-growing charity intends to have a debt-counselling CAP centre in 500 towns and cities across the UK by 2015. For more about CAP see www.capuk.org
As well as four in Leeds, other local centres include:
Bradford, Halifax, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Hull, Pontefract, Sheffield and two in York
For further information
Please consider the local centre as your great new contact on issues of personal finance and local poverty – and possibly the source of case studies in the years to come.
Contact CAP’s National PR Manager Marianne Clough
or telephone 01274 761924
CBER report as reported by BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13029870
During April, the 16 new CAP centres are opening in:
Bexhill on Sea, Brighton, Birmingham Central, Derby, Doncaster, Kircaldy & Burntisland, Leeds & Wharfedale, Leeds East & South, London Greenwich, London Merton, Penicuik, Pontefract, Saffron Walden, Southampton East, Sunderland and Yeovil
Extra debt coaches have been taken on Belfast East, Chichester, Causeway Coast and Woking.
