Settlement Guide: Will payday loans and the pandemic bring on a 'debt tsunami'?

Australia’s first recession in 29 years has financial counsellors busy taking calls from people who have never faced debt problems, and there are concerns debt amid the pandemic may provoke serious mental health concerns.

A delivery person on his working day to deliver whatever being ordered by the customer. Source: Photo by . Getty Images/miodrag ignjatovic.

The National Debt Helpline’s financial counsellor Sarah Brown-Shaw has spoken to thousands of people in financial crisis before, but the economic hardship caused by COVID-19 is unlike anything she’d seen in previous years.

If you are under stress and need emotional support, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

For free and confidential financial and legal advice, contact the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

For more information or Good Shepherd’s no interest, no fee loans, visit its website or call 1300 121 130.

You can access your chosen service provider with the assistance of an interpreter by dialling the translating and interpreting service on 13 14 50.

Listen to SBS Indonesian every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at 3 pm.

Follow us on Facebook and catch us on podcasts. 

And you can keep abreast of the latest information about the corona virus in your language at sbs.com.au/coronavirus

Breaking piggy bank, is it an act of desperation? Getty Images/Catherine Falls Source: Photo by Getty Images/Catherine Falls