Advisers for cash-strapped families

By Glen Atwell and Kelly Yates
STRUGGLING families will be able to tap into help from two full-time financial counsellors.
The City of Casey has decided to immediately employ the counsellors to assist residents who are doing it tough.
As local home owners feel the pinch after the Reserve Bank lifted official interest rates by another 0.25 percentage points this week, councillor Rob Wilson introduced the notice of motion during Tuesday night’s council meeting and urged the council to provide funding to help those families feeling the hip-pocket pain.
The motion called for a one-off grant to employ two financial councillors to be based at the Cranbourne Information Support Service and Casey North Information Support Service.
Cr Wilson said the new counsellors would curb the crisis of people losing their homes due to financial debt.
“We’re not talking about pokie machines destroying lives, this problem is about the financial squeeze put on families during interest rate rises,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to a number of financial counsellors and the biggest problem is excessive credit card debt.”
“Some Casey residents have up to 12 credit cards, adding anywhere between $100,000 and $150,000 to their bottom-line debt,” Cr Wilson said.
Cr Kevin Bradford backed Cr Wilson’s motion and said paying to see a financial counsellor was like taking one step forward and two steps back.
“It’s an oxymoron. The people that really need financial advice can’t afford to pay for the service,” he said.
“In the times of rising interest rates and increases in petrol, public transport and food costs, this is an important allocation of funds that will assist families in keeping their homes.”
Cr Lorraine Wreford rejected the idea and said the $140,000 would be better spent organising community seminars.
“If council is providing the funding as budget over-expenditure, then we are essentially borrowing money to pay for these counsellors and that is not sound financial management on our behalf,” she said.
But Cr Bradford argued that those in deep financial trouble would not be willing to attend public seminars.
“These people want one-on-one counselling, not public seminars,” he said.
“With this grant, council can assist residents in achieving the dream of owning their own house while still remaining living inside it,” he said.
Only three volunteer financial counsellors currently operate in the City of Casey, and Cr Wilson said all were inundated with active cases.