Accountants racking up record level of personal debt
High income accountants building high levels of debts
A SUPPORT group says it has received a record number of calls from accountants in personal debt over the past few months
The Chartered Accountants’ Benevolent Association (CABA) for UK chartered accountants says that it has seen a sharp rise in calls from accountants with debt problems over the past few months.
CABA said that it has received its highest ever number of calls from accountants asking for help in dealing with personal debt – and expects the problem to worsen over the next few months.
Kath Haines, chief executive of CABA, said: “The number of calls that we are
receiving about debt is probably at a record high and we believe that this
will grow quite substantially during early 2011.
“Like many people, accountants with debt problems increase their liabilities through loans and credit cards to pay for Christmas and then start to experience difficulties when they have to start paying it back during January and the following months. That is when they tend to turn to us for help.”
She added: “Because of their financial expertise, many accountants are adept at ‘recycling’ their debt across credit cards and loans over a long period of
time so that when the whole edifice collapses, it really does come crashing
down. These are people with historically high incomes who have now built up
high amounts of debt. It is not unusual for many clients to have more than
20 different creditors pursuing them.”