CALLS have been made for a credit union to be established in Bordon to help residents cope with spiralling debts.

The Whitehill and Bordon branch of the CitizensÕ Advice Bureau is being swamped with calls for help from residents who have got themselves into massive amounts of debt.

In the past year the CAB had calls from 1,475 local people with debts of more than £1,000 that they could not cope with.

Of those, 70 were referred to the bureauÕs specialist debt counsellors because the debts were so great and so complicated.

Easy availability of loans and credit has increased the problem, with many of the CABÕs clients progressing from debts from clothing catalogues to credit cards and then huge loans which they are unable to repay.

Debt counsellor Eric Solleveld said: ÒPeople in debt tend to ignore the fact that they are in debt and only come to us when they have run out of options.Ó

The rising tide of local debt means that the CABÕs three specialist debt counsellors are spending an entire day a week dealing with nothing but debt problems.

The counsellors spend their time analysing the situation, drawing up an action plan - which could mean budgeting for repayments or, in the worst cases, bankruptcy - and making offers to creditors and the courts on behalf of their clients.

ÒWe draw up budgets in such a way that they can afford to live a halfway reasonable life,Ó he explained.

Mr Solleveld told The Herald that he has seen debt problems increase dramatically over the past decade.

ÒWe had to deal with debts totalling a quarter of a million pounds ten years ago but now it is well over a million - £1.2 million, £1.4 million, something like that,Ó he said.

ÒIt is a very worrying trend and people in this country have more unsecured debt than any other western country.

ÒDebts that we deal with tend to start at around £1,500 and the most that we have dealt with was around £85,000 of personal debt.

ÒThese are obviously significant sums of debt and we take a lot of the worry away from them.Ó

One solution the CAB is championing to tackle local debt is a credit union.

Credit unions are co-operative financial organisations through which members can save money and take out loans at low interest rates.

They would not have to contend with high interest rates dictated by many less-than-reputable loan sharks, and would not be allowed to borrow more than they can afford.

ÒCredit unions have been set up in other parts of the country and they have been very successful and I suspect that they would do a lot of good in this part of the world,Ó said Mr Solleveld.

Anyone experiencing debt problems, interested in setting up a credit union, needing advice about benefits or who is interested in becoming a debt counsellor can contact the CAB on 01420 477737.