Ulster Bank offers free debt advice

Tuesday, 27 January 2009 05:59

Ulster Bank will provide a support programme of free in-branch debt advice for struggling customers, as well as supplying trained bank staff to support debt advice agencies.

The bank, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has also pledged £300,000 worth of funding over two years to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) of Northern Ireland, generating a total of £2.3 million in government financial support.

This is in addition to the £800,000 per annum for face to face debt advice and £200,000 per annum for a telephone debt advice service provided by the DETI from 1 April 2009 over the next two years.

Arlene Foster, minister of enterprise, trade and investment, said: "Since July last year, I have repeatedly asked the banks to join with my department in providing a face to face debt advice service for the Northern Ireland consumer.

"The Ulster Bank has been the first to take up that challenge."

A further development is the creation of a MoneySense initiative, providing free advice to customers across the country, which the minister says will help consumers plot their way through the unfamiliar waters of an economy in recession.

• Tags:
• products and companies