In 2021, more than 13,000 people asked for support, according to Humanitas this increased to 24,266 people last year. “It is worrying to see that an increasing part of society is experiencing serious financial problems,” says Jerzy Soetekouw, national director of Humanitas. According to him, not only is the number of people with debts increasing, but those debts are also increasing in size: “We see it in the piles of unopened mail. Those piles are getting thicker.”
Madelief (not her real name), who sought help from Humanitas two years ago, recognizes this: “At a certain point I no longer dared to open my mail, because you know it is wrong. There is bad news in it. They want money from you. Money you don’t have. And so you postpone the problem.”
When the debt ball starts rolling
Her debts were actually incurred by her ex-husband, she explains. She only found out when it was far too late. But because they were married in community of property, she was also responsible for it. She remained responsible for it even after her divorce. “The first thing I was short of money for was a washing machine. Then I couldn’t afford the mortgage interest twice in a row. Then you end up in a process that is difficult to get out of.”
Bas, who has been guiding people with money problems as a volunteer at Humanitas for six years, puts it this way: “Once the debt ball starts rolling, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop it.”
Bas says that various factors play a role in the development of problems. The increased costs of daily groceries and energy, of course, sometimes also in combination with a wrong financial decision. “I also often see people who have forgotten to report a higher salary with the benefits. They then have to pay back, for example, 20 euros per month. Afterwards, so at the beginning of the new year. That is 240 euros at once, just after the expensive December. People who are already dependent on benefits can run into problems very quickly.”
Humanitas director Soetekouw also indicates that it is difficult to escape the ‘debt vortex’. He believes that the debt industry – collection agencies, and also the government as a creditor of, for example, too many allowances received – plays a negative role in this. “A claim of 200 euros can quickly rise to 3,000 euros due to increases. The system is harsh and unmerciful to people in debt.”
Commercial debt industry
The current system further oppresses people with debts, he believes, while the government should help those people. According to him, the government, ‘itself one of the least lenient creditors’, should abolish the commercial debt industry and replace it with social debt collection agencies. “The rewards for commercial collection agencies are a perverse incentive. We have set up a petition to change this that we want to present to the cabinet later this year.”
Madelief, who hopes to be out of debt by the end of this year, says the ‘flood of letters from the debt industry’ quickly proved to be a drain on her mental and physical health. “You work on it day and night. I lost 18 kilos in one year. The worries drained all the energy from me, while I also had to take care of two young children. The problem is that it quickly becomes impossible to get an overview. “The reminders follow each other so quickly that every overview is outdated before you can create it.”
Marianne, who we spoke to earlier about her debts, also got stuck:
This is what happens to many people, says supervisor Bas. “People bury their heads in the sand. Not out of unwillingness, but because they simply can’t handle it anymore.”
He helps those seeking help to create an overview, he explains, but he does not solve the problems himself: “It is important that I help them with an overview and with preparing conversations, but they have to call authorities themselves to make appointments.” Only then will you learn to structurally create order in the situation.”
This method works out well for Madelief, she says. “I am back at work, have regained my overview and have made agreements about the repayment. Because there is now a system in place, I have had some peace of mind. I feel better about myself. Fortunately, I am managing to live my life again. enjoyment – for example when I go cycling with my children and we can eat an ice cream along the way. A liberating feeling.”
Declining confidence
She says she has also lived with shame, even if she had not incurred the debts herself. “You don’t like to talk about it. You are an adult, and you have to ask for help. But I now know: no one should be ashamed of debts. And I think it is important to say that you can ask for help at Humanitas in a very accessible manner. “
According to Humanitas director Soetekouw, people with money problems are now waiting longer and longer before seeking help. He calls this a consequence of declining confidence in the government and institutions, fueled in part by the benefits affair: “People are reluctant to place their fate in the hands of the government.”
He also mentions ‘the stigma’ that people with debts are in many cases (co-)responsible for their situation. Having money problems can happen to anyone, he emphasizes. This is what often happens due to divorces: “I know this from my own experience, because it happened to me too. I had a great job as director of a welfare organization. My wife also worked. But when we divorced, I was still in debt touched.”
Debt or a sick pet
This was due to the accumulation of costs, he says. A new home, legal costs, bridging costs… “At a certain point the savings had evaporated and my pet, a cat, needed an operation. Then I had to choose: do I take on a debt to save her? That’s what I did .”
A large proportion of households are in that situation, according to the Humanitas director. “The people who come to us for help are just the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of thousands of families in the Netherlands are one broken washing machine away from being in debt.”
Supervisor Bas has also seen this in the people he guides. He says that ‘many families hardly have a buffer’. “And the buffers have also become increasingly smaller. Only something has to happen or things can go wrong.” Director Soetekouw fears that the end of the problems is far from in sight: “It looks like the cabinet and municipalities will have to make cuts, so more severe weather is on the way.”
