Thousands seek debt help in the middle of the night

Thousands of people have been seeking help with their debts in the middle of the night according to national debt charity Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS).

Last year, almost fifty thousand people (49,826) used its free online counselling service CCCS Debt Remedy between midnight and 7am to help them deal with their debt problems. This amounts to 3.65 percent of the people who used the online service last year.

The peak time for bedtime debt counselling was between midnight and 1am with 15,066 using CCCS Debt Remedy at this time last year. While the fewest numbers were debt counselled between 4am and 5am, there were still 3,500 accessing the online counselling service at this time.

CCCS says that a combination of debt worries keeping people awake and the accessibility and infinite capacity of the 24 hour free online service has led so many to seek help in the middle of the night.

Paula Searle, Head of E-Services at CCCS, says: "Dealing with unmanageable debt is incredibly stressful so it is not surprising that so many are kept awake worrying about their debts. I am glad that CCCS Debt Remedy is there to provide the advice they need, whatever the time of day or night they need it."

Online counselling tool CCCS Debt Remedy is available at cccs.co.uk 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The CCCS free phone helpline 0800 138 1111 is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.