Hundreds of thousands missed debt repayments, charity says

Hundreds of thousands of Scots missed a debt repayment in 2023, analysis from the charity Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) shows.

CAS believes 368,249 people missed a debt repayment, based on YouGov survey data.

The polling company found 8% of Scottish adults had missed a repayment at least once in the last 12 months, with 1,005 adults surveyed in December last year.

CAS are running a “stressed about debt” campaign, encouraging people who are concerned about their finances to get in touch.

Since last spring the charity has helped write off more than £11 million of debt, with the average amount written off being more than £12,600 per client.

CAS financial health spokesperson Myles Fitt said: “There is a vicious cycle element to debt, especially during a cost-of-living crisis.

“Your income isn’t covering your outgoings so you fall into debt as a result – either through using commercial credit or falling behind on your bills to creditors.

“But the cost of those additional repayments means your income needs to stretch even further and suddenly you are trapped in a vicious cycle.

“We want people who are stressed about their debts to seek advice and support from the Citizens Advice network.”

He added: “You don’t need to go to a CAB in-person to get advice, instead you can check our online advice pages or use our interactive self-help tools.

“Our network gets real results for people – last year people who saw a gain having sought advice were more than £3,700 better off.”