Eneco supports Socialdebt during Money Week

The theme for this year’s Money Week is ‘How to realise your money dreams'. To support this initiative, Eneco has contributed 25,000 euros to Socialdebt. The Rotterdam-based foundation will use these funds to help more young people to recover from debt and find peace of mind about their finances.

The donation was made at an event about debt that was organised to celebrate the book launch of Geen Saldo. This book, written specifically for teenagers as an initiative of debt collection agency Syncasso, was presented at Eneco’s headquarters in Rotterdam. Socialdebt founder Jamal Oulel accepted the contribution on behalf of the foundation.

Breaking through the debt cycle and giving young people a better outlook

Socialdebt helps young people who are in debt by taking over and paying their debts, so that they only have a single creditor. It also means that they do not run up more debt as a result of fines and collection fees.

Before accepting Eneco’s donation, Oulel told Socialdebt’s story to an audience of debt professionals, policymakers and other stakeholders in the financial sector. These guests were at Eneco’s headquarters to attend the launch of the book Geen Saldo. Popular YA author Caja Cazemier was commissioned by Eneco’s debt collection partner Syncasso to write this novel about money problems and how to prevent them. The book, which is intended for a teenage readership, will be handed out by Eneco and various other organisations.

Eneco helps customers with money problems

The donation to Socialdebt is part of Eneco’s broader approach to help customers with money problems. The energy company undertakes active efforts to help both customers and employees who have money problems. These efforts have yielded Eneco the ‘Organisation with empathy for money problems’ (Geldzorgenbewuste Organisatie) quality label.

Teenagers and young adults only make up a small portion of Eneco’s customers. However, since overdue payments are relatively frequent among this group, Eneco is helping to raise awareness about problem debt and breaking the taboo that surrounds debt. The company also offers concrete assistance. Eneco is working with Socialdebt to develop even better support for young adults with overdue payments, so that they too can realise their money dreams.