ALPHA-DEBT for consumers awareness on over-indebtedness and financial education

ended

Debt advisory service is defined as the key element to help over-indebted consumers to maintain or return to a financial stable situation, while repaying their creditors. The COVID-19 pandemic accentuated the connotations of the over-indebtedness phenomenon in several EU Member States, where debt advisory services are absent or have particularly limited capacity, coverage, or scope. ALPHA-DEBT’s objective is to contribute to the reduction of consumers over-indebtedness in Italy through the strengthening of debt advisory services. It pursues specific objectives as facilitating the access to debt advisory services while creating a stable network of experts, enhancing consumers financial literacy, and raising awareness on financial competences and issues related to a lack of them. Activities encompass 1 international meeting with countries subjected to the call, 2 national webinars with experts from the banking, legal credit and insolvency fields addressed both to consumers as well as enterprises, 4 training courses for the strengthening of the network of expert operating in the field and 10 video lessons addressed to consumers on an e-learning platform. A communication campaign and a toolkit guarantee the proposal's sustainability and continuation. The project is built to reach outcomes in the medium and long term. As to the former, results achieved relate to an effective and easier access to debt advisory services thanks to the re-qualification of structures already active on the national territory, the strengthening of a network of experts and an increased consumer awareness on the importance of financial education. In the long term, a proper knowledge of the national and European legislation together with a proper financial literacy will contribute in reducing the national over-indebted rate. The identified target relates to persons aged 18+, (100 counseling activities and 15k reached through the communication campaign and the e-learning platform).