Who We Are
As early as 1994 our founding counsellors were providing free and impartial debt advice. In February 1999 it was decided to bring together a number of these services, including the Credit Advisory Service, under one roof. That was the birth of the original Debt Advice Bureau Limited, now Debt Advice Bureau Online Limited.
The decision was taken at the time to remain completely independent. We are not tied to, associated with or endorsed by Citizens Advice or any Citizens Advice Bureaux. We receive no help or funding from central or local Government. What funding we receive is generated through donations and sponsorship.
Having amalgamated a number of established debt counsellors and credit specialists, the guiding principle has remained the same - provide a free and unbiased debt and credit advisory service unsullied by the need to "sell" a particular debt solution. This continues to ensure that anyone seeking advice can be confident that it is impartial.
The service offered is a remote one, i.e. provided by internet, phone and post. In order to continue to provide a completely free and impartial advisory service the focus has been towards the use of the web and email.
This not only enables more counsellors to be available at more times during the day, given their disparate locations, it is also very practical. For example, the average cost of reviewing a budget by phone is more than 20-times that of reviewing the same budget submitted online. An immensely important statistic when you are a free service with limited funds. This also means that clients are only phoned when they have specifically requested it. The bureau has never, and will never, make unsolicited phone calls to anyone.
In recent years the backroom analysis and forcesating service, in:specie™, has established itself in its own right. Founded by DAB™ director Stephen Rose, it successfully predicted the residential property collapses, with "Sell Now! Why You Don't Want to be a Homeowner" published in 2006, as well as the commercial property crash and the recession. It is hoped that the provision of consultancy services will provide a means to drive additional revenue which can be used to fund the ever-growing demand for advisers.