Freiburg/Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) – Because of the high energy prices, consumers in Germany are increasingly looking for help from professional debt counseling services. “We’re getting more people into counseling who weren’t with us before,” said Eva Müffelmann, head of the Federal Working Group for Debt Counseling, on Thursday of the German Press Agency on the sidelines of a meeting in Freiburg. The middle class of society is now also affected.
The church welfare associations Caritas and Diakonie paint a similar picture in the southwest. There are more and more money and livelihood worries.
“Those who were already poor or at risk of poverty are hit hardest by the current crisis. Increasingly, however, people from the middle class are slipping into poverty,” said Annette Holuscha-Uhlenbrock from the board of the Caritas Association of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. The associations are observing a “new poverty” that did not exist before.
Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) said at the Freiburg conference via video that increased energy and living costs are particularly affecting people with low incomes “The need for advice has probably never been greater than it is now, so that people don’t get into over-indebtedness or get out of their debts again Find out debts,” she said, according to her ministry.
Lemke pointed to the gas and electricity price brakes that were introduced in March and are financed from a special fund of up to 200 billion euros from the federal government. According to Lemke, around six million people in Germany are over-indebted. One speaks of over-indebtedness when income and assets are no longer sufficient to pay off liabilities, even with a reduced standard of living.
The debt counseling warned of an increase in personal bankruptcies. Consumer bankruptcy allows private individuals to free themselves from their debts, even if they cannot repay everything. At the end there is the so-called residual debt exemption. According to the credit agency Crif, there were a good 96,300 cases of private insolvency last year. That was almost 12 percent less than in 2021.
According to its own statements, the federal working group represents a nationwide network of around 1,200 advice centers. According to managing director Ines Moers, around 600,000 people seek advice every year.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:230504-99-559357/3
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