From pillar to post
Last year, attorney Richard Korver told during our regional meetings about various municipalities that, despite the entry into force of the Wgs (that is the law that states that municipalities must offer debt assistance to their citizens), are showing entrepreneurs the door. Those entrepreneurs should first stop their business if they want to be helped with their financial problems, these municipalities believe. Korver, with his expertise as an (insolvency) lawyer, well explained last year why refusal to help, with a standard exclusion of certain groups, is not allowed, the short version being that the law says they must help. It can be that simple sometimes…) But where Korver has shown the legal side of this, I want to explain why this refusal is so bad.
Every day we receive phone calls from entrepreneurs who are sent from pillar to post. Incidentally, I should note that sometimes it is not even told which cabinets or walls there are, as long as you still have your Chamber of Commerce number. But what should you do as an entrepreneur and you can easily provide for your income) but have run into problems due to, for example, the well-known divorce? Simply unsubscribe and apply for social assistance benefits? And what if you have five children and a home for sale? And what if you are 56 years old and work in a sector such as construction where they hardly hire any salaried people, but still have work for you as a self-employed person? These people are expected to put themselves in a benefit position, often knowing that this will only make the problems worse. In addition, they often know that the outcome for their creditors will be lousy. And this is precisely the group of citizens who do not want to run away from the problems, but want to solve them and pay off the debts.
Fortunately, there are also a lot of municipalities that know how to do it and realize that helping such an entrepreneur in difficult times only works to limit damage, both in terms of money and psychologically. And often these are also municipalities that consider prevention of financial problems of paramount importance.
Last week, for example, I had contact with a municipality that we have been working with for years. There are short lines of communication that ensure that not only the debt problems are tackled, but also the other (for example, psychosocial) problems. In this specific case, we were able to prevent a (last minute) house clearance together by switching quickly and exchanging information. Preventing the same eviction would not have been possible at all if the requirement to stop doing business had been on the table. Now we were able to demonstrate to the judge that the family could get out of trouble with a loan from the same municipality. In addition, we must ask ourselves whether this entrepreneur would have helped if he should not have continued with his company. Then not only would this family have been on the street, but the creditors (and of course the municipality itself too!) Would have been victimized.
So do not hesitate to point out to the municipalities the benefits of debt counseling for entrepreneurs. And on that law ...
Manon Luijens