Number of private bankruptcies in Salzburg: a worrying trend!

Number of private bankruptcies in Salzburg: a worrying trend!

In the first half of 2024, the number of private disks in Salzburg rose sharply, above the Austrian average, as the Credit Protection Association of 1870 reported. This alarming development led to an increase in debt consultations, especially in Pongau and Lungau, where more than 600 consultations took place last year. The average debt level per person was between 70,000 and 80,000 euros. Many affected people rest in a financial vicious cycle, which often begins creeping until the first unpaid bills mean ruin.

increasing demand for support

The Salzburg debt counseling had an intensive year with 1,052 first contacts and a total of 3,779 consultations carried out. The number of consultation cases closed also amounted to 1,158. This was necessary because the advisory facility was able to negotiate more than 13.7 million euros in discounts for clients. "There is no typical debtor," says Peter Niederreiter, managing director of debt counseling. "We had everything from teachers to university professors as clients." In common, however, everyone is a break in the biography, be it through divorces, the loss of close people or health problems.

In order to meet the increasing requirements, the state of Salzburg is ready to support debt advice with 1.5 million euros in 2025. Among other things, these additional means should be used to set up new advice centers in order to meet the high demand from inflation. State Councilor Christian Pewny (FPÖ) emphasized that debt counseling was an important low -threshold offer that everyone could claim. This is to help people who are often forced to their knees through unforeseen life events, and the support will know more and more, as well as the experts in the area of debt counseling, who support thousands of clients every year to reorganize their finances, such as Salzburg.Al and Salzburg24.at report.