While it’s true that most people have taken on more debt during the past few years of life in a pandemic, the senior population, in particular, has been disproportionately affected. This is after a record-setting pace early in the pandemic, when everyone seemed to be paying off more debt than ever before.
What changed? Certainly, government relief programs helped, but at the same time, it also led to more spending once the recovery was in full swing. At this point, according to Statistics Canada, every Canadian has an average debt of $1.73 for every dollar they have earned. That’s a whopping total of $2.1 trillion for the entire country.
Just like with the medical aspects of the pandemic, seniors can be one of the more vulnerable populations with debt. There are clear reasons why they may be struggling more than younger people. It’s good to know and empathize with their potential plight as they try to pay debts off.
A financial counselor recently shared what she has seen with Financial Post magazine. As she points out, many seniors are having to worry more about debt instead of living on retirement funds. Here are some of the reasons for that:
Children who need more support
With circumstances causing some financial hardship for many Canadians, children have needed to lean on their parents for some help. This causes a domino effect that affects retirement savings, although children should be able to at least help with expenses of their own to lessen the burden of Mom and Dad.
Emergencies come to the fore
For seniors that are still working, there may have been an unexpected loss of job, which means less retirement income as well. Sudden illnesses can also take their toll on savings, especially if a person’s long-term disability plan wasn’t as robust as it could have been.
Making adjustments can be difficult
This is true no matter what the world has in store for seniors that they can’t control. It is always a struggle to live on a tighter budget. Add on the continued need to meet a mortgage and it becomes more acute.
The fine art of negotiating debt
Certainly, there can be solutions to these problems for seniors, if they can plan. For instance, putting more money away or starting to live with less and trimming expenses earlier can be two techniques that can be helpful.
But, responding with empathy and flexibility to help seniors manage their debt now can not only help them in struggles. It can also lead to you collecting on that debt within a reasonable time frame. Using techniques that involve great customer service can lead to a solution that is best for everyone, no matter what’s taking place in their world. It’s worth remembering.
Communicating a message of empathetic customer service is essential for all of your customers while providing the chance for those same customers to end their debt with your business. At ARO, we can help you navigate all the changes that are about to take place with debt collection. We make it our purpose to reconcile debt with an approach that puts people first. Find out more about what we have to offer businesses on our website.
