20 “Tenave Review — ‘Wediday ul July 21, 1988 : ao Cou nsellor says loss | me is most'com -reason for financial and debt difficulties - A ‘typical problem debt counsellor Guy Pocklington sees in the Northwest or in his office in Vancouver would be a family handling monthly living ex- penses of $1,500 for food, rent and utilities, debts totaling $10,000, with a net family in- come of $2,300. Then something happens — a loss of hours at work, pregnancy, marital separation — and the income drops to $1,800 a month. That’s when they come to see Pocklington. He was in Terrace the week of July 18, a trip he makes about three times a year. ‘It's people who are living close to the line to begin with, who had enough income, but just barely’’ he usually sees, from all income groups but mainly “‘or- dinary working class people.” If the typical family above had been paying $600 a month to banks, finance companies or ‘‘plastic lenders’’, and suddenly found themselves $300 a ‘month short and in arrears, Pockling- ton could offer them a variety of solutions. The most dramatic solution; which only about 10 percent of people choose, is the ‘orderly payment of debts’ program, a legal remedy to the problem. In this program, the family would pay its available income of $300 to his department. (Consumer Services), who ‘then disburse it proportionately to the various creditors. The interest rates paid to the creditors are dropped to five percent. The creditors can object. to (but not reject) the proposal, and a hearing will determine if the debtor has - incorrectly declared available income, : or could decrease living expenses. This is extremely.rare, though, as debt counsellors do a thorough examination of assets and income, and creditors usual- ly go along with orderly pay- ment of debt. The criteria for this program are that the family is actually unable to make their contracted ‘payments as they fall due, but that they have sufficient income of incor to pay them within a reasonable: amount of time.’ : ~ Another solution is ‘to make more informal arrangements, such as proposing to pay’ $100 a month to'clear a debt of $1000 ‘due yesterday.” Even if the debtor had tried proposing this type of arrangement and was refused, a letter from a debt counsellor often has more credibility. ‘‘The company usually knows that what we pro- pose is what a person can reasonably pay. We get.a lot of - cooperation,”’ Pocklington said. Sometimes just. budgeting help is needed, particularly with . young single people just learning to manage their money, “And ocassionally people come in for - advice before they have a finan- -cial problem —~ but that rarely happens.” Pocklington doesn’t use a system that. requires ‘‘those 16-column pads’’, doesn’t suggest those glossy ' financial management maga- zines: they’re written mainly for and he. The trip to Terrace was well worth his white for Dean Femey, an idaho fisherman who land- ed this 87-pound Chinook salmon Saturday afternoon. Ferney, shown here In front of North- west Sportsman.at Lakelse Ave. and Kalum St., was casting with a Spin’ im Glo lure at the mouth of the Skeena. when the be spring took the bait. mC - the top. 30 “percent income: - bracket, and can’ be. quite mis- leading, giving ordinary i income. earners the impression they must be doing everything wrong. Instead, Pocklington uses. what he calls. the “modified - cookie jar method’’. Expenses are broken down into categories: monthly (rent, utilities), annual (such as car insurance), and an important one — irregular (car tepairs, clothes), Savings .ac- counts. are started for ‘annual’. with fixed amounts from each paycheque’ and ‘irregular’, going into the accounts. | The fixed monthly expenses can be paid by cheque, but the day-to-day expenses — food, gas, recreation — are to be cash purchases only. You go to the ‘bank the same e day eac eek, get the.cash — say $100: for’ ale: single. person —. and. don’t. gO. an “near the bank again: until next’° week,’’ Pocklingtion says people... -quickly.learn how to make their = . cash ‘last through the week, AU personal savings component can also be built into this system: _ The debt counsellor said that, _ ‘sometimes. . people with debt problems. are wasting money, - ‘like buying lunch every day when they can’t réally ‘afford to, - or that they may not know about additional sources of income, ‘such as Canada Pension Plan. - For the most part; though, he helps people manage a sudden : reduction in income, something that can happen to just about anyone. ; : -Muks-kum-ol acquires | more low cost housing | ~The Muks-kum-ol Housing Society will add another 15 houses to the 42 units it-has so far, board. chairperson Ray Jones told the Terrace Review. ‘*This fiscal year we’re looking at purchasing five existing homes, we’ve already made of- fers on three or four of them. We will be building 10 new homes. We have a backlog of people wanting four or five bedroom units, so we'll be building that kind,’ he explain- ed, These new units won't take care of the waiting list for hous- ing, Jones said, but it will make a good dent in.it.. The program continues to supply. housing for low-income native people who qualify under CMHC’s Urban Native Housing Program. ~The 15 additional houses are financed through a trust com- Am bulance — continued from page 19 primarily due to community volunteers, Dwyer explains that there are only two full-time pro- vincial ambulance service employees in Terrace, but they are. assisted by 15 trained volunteers who give up their ‘| off-time’’ to insure that there ‘are two ambulance crews on du- ty 24-hours a day, seven days a Where Visit the N Northern. Motor guaranteed by CMHC, The So- ciety has received verbal ap- . os proval for this phase ofthe pro- = sss ject, and are just waiting for the | signed legal documents. me The five existing houses. ae, should be available shortly, and | the houses to'be built should be | ready for occupancy this winter or next spring: They'll be scat-. . tered throughout the city of Ter-- = 5 | Tace, following the board’s policy to encourage residents to ‘become : part of existing neighborhoods. Jones says the Society is get- ting smarter in their purchasing of existing housing, learning ; from past experience to get the a best quality for the money. The Muks-kum-ol (‘white bear’ ‘in Tsimpsian) Society started with | ten houses purchased and reno-: vated in the fall of 1986." pany or bank. and the loan is week, oy Do a : “It's a thankless job, and are we ever lucky that we have peo-: © ple that are dedicated to. their community to do it,’’ says Dwyer. : “We're extremely for- - tunate that there are people will- ing to give up their evenings, their weekends, to work | on this.” it's at... Inn, for nightly — entertainment. > 3086 Hwy. 16 East. 635-6375 | : ESRI GLA ie July 25 0 Avg 6 _ Wes Mackey. :