More than 7,500 families in Portugal have, in desperation, applied to consumer champion DECO for help with their finances - but only 900 could be helped.
DECO can only help if there is a "feasibility of renegotiating loans and reorganising family budgets."
Most families applied to DECO too late, when their finances had become so tangled and gloomy that there was no way even DECO could help.
"In the first three months of this year we had similar numbers to 2013 when we were able to help 1,100 families, while this year only 900 cases have been helped showing clearly that the financial situation of families is getting worse, at least for those that are asking for help," said Natalia Nunes in an interview with news agency Lusa earlier today.
According to Nunes, DECO only opens a case if families present "the feasibility of renegotiating loans and a reorganisation of the family budget," and that most of the families who come to DECO "no longer have the ability to restructure debts."
In 2000, when Deco started the project to support those in debt, the main causes were due to unemployment, illness and divorce. Now there are new reasons such as wage cuts, and foreclosures on loans for which a family member has acted as a guarantor.
"One of the causes giving rise to debt is the seizure of money and property carried out by the IRS or Social Security," explained Nunes who reported that the seizure of goods, mainly wages, has rapidly been increasing.
The Treasury has seized €733,000 per working day since last September from 52,000 bank accounts. This process has been speeded up by the new Code of Civil Procedure (September 2013) which allows automatic seizure of bank accounts and assets without recourse to court, which means that those who have debts no longer are allowed to argue their case.
