Debt Talk CIC publishes its first report Breaking Point to Breaking Through reveals a hidden debt crisis affecting Bangladeshi Londoners, based on community consultations with over 45 residents, frontline workers and statutory organisations in Tower Hamlets. Despite 63% of Bangladeshi Londoners living in poverty, there is no dedicated, culturally responsive debt advice service for this community. The report shows how shame and honour (izzat), faith-based barriers to interest, informal lending, remittance pressures and intergenerational trauma combine to push families into crisis before they seek help. Participants were clear: mainstream debt services are not working. Generic advice, interest-based solutions, digital-only access and short-term funding models exclude Bangladeshi lived realities. The report outlines community-designed solutions, including Bengali-speaking advisors, trauma-informed and faith-aware support, Shariah-compliant credit pathways, holistic debt and wellbeing sup...

Dear Friends of Debt Talk, You are warmly invited to take part in a landmark community consultation and lunch to help establish the first-ever Bangladeshi-led Debt Advice Service in the UK, funded by Tower Hamlets Council. Detailed agenda to follow soon. Currently, no debt advice service represents the Bangladeshi community. Many residents continue to face financial struggles without a service that fully understands their cultural, linguistic, and social needs. The urgency of this work is clear. Many of us are still living with the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which left deep scars through job losses, debt, and financial insecurity. These struggles have been compounded by structural inequalities that disproportionately affect Bangladeshi and other minority communities in Tower Hamlets. This consultation is about ensuring that the new service is shaped by the very people it is meant to serve, so it reflects their lived experiences and provides the right kind of suppo...