Numbers of parents seeking help to resolve their children’s student debt issues are rising, according to national free to client debt solutions and advice company Payplan.

The company’s phone and website help lines have seen a worrying increase in cries of help from anxious parents keen to resolve their children’s financial crises. Even grandparents are being called upon to help ease this financial burden, according to a retirement equity release company, with the average ‘Bank of Gran and Grandad’ paying out £23,328 to help families keep on top of costs, see link below.

Credit card debt and money owing on unsecured loans - on top of the student loan - are the main issues facing graduates and their families.

All represent a further knock for families who have struggled to put their children through university, often making sacrifices themselves, only to find more money problems facing them long after graduation day. Payplan now wants to see more done to prepare and educate students to the financial hurdles that could potentially lay ahead for them after university.

“Debt is part and parcel of society, we can’t sweep it under the carpet and pretend it’s not happening,” said John Fairhurst, MD at Payplan. “It needs to become part of the school curriculum, not just something touched on in economics, but a core subject taught to every pupil as early as possible.” Last week 200 MPs signed a motion calling for financial education to be made compulsory in schools.  At present, ‘how to handle money’ is only taught ad hoc in a handful of schools.

“We send teenagers off to university and college and the grant system means they automatically rack up millions of pounds of debt between them. What advice or information is there beforehand to prepare them for this?” added Fairhurst, who welcomed the MPs’ action. The national free to client debt solutions company is exploring how its own liaison team could work with schools to provide information for the classroom. It says words such as bankruptcy, debt consolidation, and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) should form part of everyday language, not something students stumble upon when the term applies to them – it’s too late by then. Payplan’s qualified consultants will always discuss all options with students and their families to help find a solution to consolidating student loans. More details and advice  are available, tel: 0800 280 2816 or on the Payplan website: http://www.payplan.com/ or the company blog: http://www.payplan.com/debt-news/2011/03/02/students-and-debt/ and Twitter sites: http://twitter.com/#!/LizzyPayplan

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/8357448/A-new-lender-on-the-high-street-The-Bank-of-Gran-and-Grandad.html

Note to editors

Established in 1992 Payplan is one of the oldest providers of free debt advice and solutions in the UK. Regarded as one of the market leaders, its award-winning service helps over 100,000 people in financial difficulties every year.

In November 2010 it announced a working collaboration with the Consumer Financial Education Body (CFEB). CFEB was created in April 2010 by the Financial Services Act 2010. It is responsible for helping consumers understand financial matters and manage their finances better, and does this by providing impartial advice through a national financial advice service. The service is available online in print, over the phone (0300 500 5000), and face-to-face in some areas of the UK. From April 2011, the service will be available face-to-face nationwide and will become the Money Advice Service.   In March 2011 Payplan was named 19th in the Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to work for.