ALPHA DEBT

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 and its negative consequences on the European economy accentuated the connotations of the widespread phenomenon of over-indebtedness 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 through the strengthening of debt advisory services in Italy. It pursues specific objectives as facilitating the access to debt advisory services creating a stable network of experts, enhance consumers financial literacy and raising awareness on financial competences and issues related to a lack of them. Activities encompass 3 international meetings with countries subjected to the call so that to collect and exchange best practices, 5 national webinars for the strengthening of the network of expert operating in the debt advisory field and a set of e-lectures addressed to consumers. A communication campaign and a toolkit both in Italian and English guarantee 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 locations already active on the national territory, the strengthening of a network of experts operating in the sector and an increased consumer awareness on the importance of financial education. In the long term, a proper knowledge of the national and European legislation and financial literacy will help reducing the over-indebted rate. 

The identified target relates to persons aged 30+ (150 directly involved both on the e-learning platform as well as direct counseling) and 10k consumers reached thanks to the communication campaign.