The issue of excess debt is growing at an alarming rate. The overall amount of debt unpaid on time is growing, and has reached approximately 7% of Polish GDP – as of the end of June 2014, nearly 10% of adult Poles have not been paying their liabilities to schedule. The lack of favourable debt repayment perspective is a major social problem, shown in the complete and permanent social exclusion and marginalisation of indebted individuals in terms of their access to basic services; it ties in with inherited poverty and helplessness. Personal bankruptcy based on a “fresh start” concept is a system solution preventing exclusion through debt restructuring. Yet related knowledge is limited, both in the community of indebted consumers and of social welfare staff.
The project purpose was to reduce consumer debt by improving access to knowledge concerning the personal bankruptcy procedure – providing a tool allowing for assessment of individual capacity for debt restructuring-based personal bankruptcy, and a counselling programme for bankruptcy-threatened individuals.
A free-of-charge closed question test (the only one in Poland) was designed as a tool checking whether an indebted individual may take advantage of the personal bankruptcy procedure (the “Personal Bankruptcy Qualifier”). The www.szansadwazero.pl website was set up as a comprehensive source of knowledge on personal bankruptcy, all content displayed in easy-reading information films and publications (“The Financial Lighthouse Keeper” –educational mini-guidebook; “Chance 2.0. Debt Restructuring in Personal Bankruptcy” – scientific publication). A unique free-of-charge legal assistance programme for excessively indebted individuals was also set up (legal aid office and information hotline).
Direct project beneficiaries included 89 persons who too advantage of assistance services. More than 2,600 persons used the online Bankruptcy Qualifier.
The project partner, Juss-Buss (Norway) helped create the legal aid concept.