AN ACCLAIMED charity has opened a new centre in Bournemouth to help people struggling with huge debts.

Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has partnered with Cranleigh Community Church to bring its service to the area.

Bournemouth centre manager Eren Bailey said the church had always offered hope to those in need.

“There is a lot in the Bible about looking after the poorest,”

she said.

“In our society, a lot of poverty is debt-related to our congregation has been working hard to open a CAP centre to get people back on track.”

The charity offers a service to people with spiralling personal debt.

Eren said: “The first port of call after meeting someone in debt is to make sure they have enough to eat, and that often means visiting a food bank, or even going shopping for them.

“It is unbelievable when you visit someone’s home and the shelves are completely bare.

When you’ve got creditors or loan sharks knocking on the door, many people would rather give them money than make sure there is enough to eat for themselves.”

The charity does all the negotiating with creditors and local volunteers offer support to each person face-to-face until they are debt free.

Eren said falling into debt could happen to anyone.

“There are all sorts of reasons someone might be in debt,” she said.

“It’s easy to say that someone is careless with money, but many people come to us after a relationship breaks down, or they lose their job, or even if their partner has an illness and they need to care for them fulltime.

There are many reasons.

What we offer is peace of mind and support all the way through.”

Both Poole and Lymington already have a CAP centre, and there are 218 in total around the UK.

The service is completely free to clients.

Eren said: “We have only just started, and already we have a full quota of clients.

“We are already having to see people outside of our area because they don’t have a CAP centre locally. This is known as a ‘quiet time’ for us, so who knows what it will be like when January’s bills come in.”

To find out more, visit capdebthelp.org or call 0800 328 0006.