Ms Carol Dunne:

As Senator Hayden noted, 42% of the statements were challenged. We respect and understand the banks' obligation to exercise oversight and examine to their satisfaction the content of the financial statement. Although it is called a standard financial statement - I already noted that one does not get standard people - the approach to the compilation of the statement is standard.

That requires clients to note what they are doing with their money over a period of four to six weeks. In fairness, if budgeting was a simple act of arithmetic, we would all be out of business because there would be no need for our services. What tends to happen is that people underestimate their spending; they do not know where the money goes. If one asks them over the telephone what they are spending on food shopping, they will give a figure, but they will not actually know whether it is accurate. They need a period of time to document what they are doing with their money and they can then look at areas where they are overspending. Many people come back and tell us that they did not know they were overspending on certain things and they revisit that spending. A reasonable period of time is required for this process, after which we would regard the starndard financial statement, SFS, as having been diligently compiled and providing a sound basis in moving forward. The reported experience of clients coming to us is that many of them consider that, if they do not comply in completing the SFS over the telephone, their house will be repossessed and that they must do what the bank wants. There is an incredible imbalance of power and that is true in the context of both the CCMA and the MARP. Power needs to be given back to the individual with the debt problem.