Updates and news

This is our most recent newsletter - distributed to supporters, friends and local churches:

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Money Lifeline: 2025 – what a turnround!

Welcome to news from Money Lifeline – Basingstoke’s debt advice charity supported
by local churches. As the headline suggests, 2025 has been a year of change – with
plans made and then upended as God continued to work.
As you may recall, at the beginning of the year we were anticipating having to close
the service: the majority of our volunteers were planning to step back for a variety of
reasons, meaning that we would not have enough people to continue beyond this
month. Although we had been telling local churches about this, we had received a
very limited response.
However in the summer our good friends at the Foodbank were able to help with
additional publicity and we have now recruited 5 volunteers who are well advanced
in their training to become debt advisers. Together with changes to other
volunteers’ circumstances this means that we can continue our much needed and
highly valued work without interruption.
Praise God for his provision and our thanks to all those who have volunteered,
supported and prayed for us over this period – it is much appreciated.
A reminder of what do we do:
It’s now 18 years since Money Lifeline began supporting local people in debt. We
help people who have debts they cannot cope with on their own, by providing a free,
face to face, confidential debt advice service to anyone who needs it. We aim to give
clients the time and love required to really understand them and their problems and
to help them with the impact on their personal lives, as well as the hard figures.
Since we began, we have worked with hundreds of individuals and couples by
helping them find a way through the deep distress and misery that money worries
bring.
How do we do this? We help people understand their finances, draw up an
affordable budget, assist in claiming the right benefits, negotiate with creditors and
bailiffs, accompany clients to court hearings and, as appropriate, agree affordable
repayment plans or other debt solutions such as debt relief orders or bankruptcy.
The aim is to take the stress away, enable people to reclaim control of their lives, to
get out (and stay out) of debt.
What do our clients say about us? Here’s some feedback we’ve received

• Money Lifeline have changed my life, they’re supportive, compassionate, caring and understanding.

• Amazing team Keep doing what you’re doing you change peoples life's and you truly do care for what your doing. You all go above and beyond what I expected. Thank you

• The advisers are remarkable, listen with compassion and help there is no judgement

• Thank you for all you've done x

• They made me feel at ease as soon as I met them. I have mental issues and they took all of it into consideration perfectly. I would recommend them to anyone in the need for financial help. Thank you very much 

• The support and encouragement I received has been invaluable.

• They helped me from the first phone call. They understood the stress and pressure I was under. They took the time to listen to how I was feeling and what I was going through. They never once judged me. They worked around my work. If it wasn’t for them I’m not sure where I would be today.

 

Money Lifeline is affiliated to Community Money Advice (a national charity) and we
are registered with the Charity Commission and the Information Commissioner.
Most importantly we are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct
Authority.
Who do we help?
There is no typical client: everyone is different but all are hurting and anxious. But
over the last few years we’ve seen that generally people’s debts are greater, more complex and more urgent. We tend to attract clients who need more intensive, long
term support that cannot be managed in a fixed number of meetings: we’re always
happy to go the extra mile. To bring things into a little more focus, let me tell you
about a client we have dealt with recently (names and details have been changed):
A family member contacted us about Sybil: she’s a young, single mother with
some mental health issues and was worried about debts that had built up,
totalling around £9,000. She owed money to British Gas and she had failed to
pay her Council Tax as she believed that she was not liable – although she had
received letters about this, she didn’t really understand them and had tried to
ignore them. She was also being chased aggressively by a loan company: they
wanted her to pay for a loan taken out by a friend at an interest rate of 117%!!
– Sybil thought she might have agreed to be a guarantor, but the company
claimed that she took the loan. As you can imagine, this was all very
distressing for her.
Sybil has been making real efforts to sort things out including getting part time
work but needed a way to get past her current problems which were affecting
her mental well being..
We took over dealing with the creditors which gave her some immediate relief.
And we’ve just arranged a Debt Relief Order for her: this writes her debts off
and gives her a fresh start. We’re confident that Sybil will take advantage of
this and will continue to work with us as we help her learn how to manage her
money and stay out of debt.
 

I hope this story illustrates what we are trying to do – to help people as individuals,
and understand their whole needs. The vast majority of our clients are deeply
concerned at their plight and want to be free of their debt. And in most cases, we
are able to provide real and immediate assistance in reducing the stress and anxiety
– and find a way to move forward. We know our service is frequently seen as a real
lifeline.

Looking forward, we know that personal debt is rising: there are continuing squeezes
on benefits and earnings together with rising inflation mean that problems will
continue.

We hope that this short newsletter has given you an idea of the type of work we do:
thank you for your interest and support.

And Finally
We’d like to thank Basingstoke Community Churches for continuing to let us have
office space for admin and to meet clients at The Sarum Hill Centre – their support is
much appreciated.
Although we are really pleased to welcome our new volunteers, we would still
welcome extra team members - please get in touch if you’re interested.
We’re supported entirely by donations, so if you or your church were able to provide
financial support that would be greatly appreciated. We also welcome your
continuing prayer for our work.
And if you or someone you know needs help, don’t hesitate to give them our details
or, if they give permission, let us know about them and we will make contact.
Finally if you’d like us to come and talk to your church or group, we’d be very happy
to do so.
Our contact details are:
 Tel or text to 07954 040961 or 07598 579741
 E mail to moneylifelinebasingstoke@gmail.com
 Website www.moneylifeline.org
David Evans
For Money Lifeline
November 2025