The Community Budgeting Trust (Wairarapa)
The Community Budgeting Trust (Wairarapa) was started in 2003 by four people to give the people of the Wairarapa choices in whom they used for support with their finances. Two of these four are still actively involved.
The office is currently manned by seven volunteers now who give up their time to support our clients.
We offer free advice and if the client wishes we can take them on and we do Total Money Management for them at a small monthly cost.
This means we open a trust account at the bank in our name but in trust for the client where all their money be it benefit or wages goes to. From there we make all their payments eg rent, power, telephone, debts etc and give them a regular living allowance.
For those clients who have debts we also work with their creditors to come to a workable outcome for both parties providing certainty for everyone.
As a lot of our clients are special needs they require help with their finances as they are not capable of understanding the bases of budgeting therefore they would very quickly find themselves in financial difficulty. This enables them to live fulfilling lives in the community.
There is a multitude of reasons as to why people seek help with their finances and continue to rely on our help once they are back on track. Some do not or can’t get bank accounts so we are also used as a place for their money to go to and we don’t do any budgeting for them.
We take this opportunity to thank Trust House for their continued support by way of grants as this enables us to remain in our office. Due to us doing Total Money Management we are not able to be funded by the Ministry of Social Development so we rely on grants from the community to remain open to support the many financially needy people in the Wairarapa.
