Community Debt Advice (CDA)

Community Debt Advice (CDA) was founded in 2007 as a charitable initiative by members of RRCC (now Christ Central). We are well established and widely respected for the quality and professionalism of the free face to face debt counselling service we provide. Staffed entirely by volunteers for the first 10 years, the team at CDA has now expanded to include a small number of salaried staff. We are regulated by the FCA, as an autonomous part of Christ Central.

Our vision is to release people in our local community from the burden of debt.
At CDA we derive our inspiration and values from our Christian faith. These values, shared by many people of other faiths and of no religious faith, provide the basis of our work with families and individuals within the local community. We have a passion for social justice, equity and fairness. We focus on working to ensure that our clients, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances, have access to what they need. We are non-judgemental, deliberately flexible in our approach and generous with our time to give each of our clients the best possible chance of a successful outcome and a sustainable long term plan.

Historically we have served well over 1000 local clients and their families, often providing continuing support and advice over months and years. We have a steady flow of new clients but our focus is not on the number of clients we see but on the excellence of our service and on the impact or difference we can make.

CDA predominantly serves the residents of Reigate and Banstead Borough, with a handful of clients from adjoining districts of Mole Valley, Tandridge and Epsom. This region includes areas that fall into the top 20% deprived areas in the UK. Our client base covers the whole social spectrum but disadvantaged households and those in social housing make up the greatest number. We see no prospect of financial pressures easing on these households and there is every indication that the impact will continue to fall most heavily on the most vulnerable, the disadvantaged and those at the margins of our community. CDA have a unique role to play in offering a holistic approach, in particular serving those in our community who are least able to engage and cope with the demands placed on them.

As a community-based service, CDA have been able to build close working relationships and key contacts within many local organisations. Reigate and Banstead Borough Council assist with our core funding and that partnership gives us direct access to key departments to help them deliver best value to their residents. We are generously supported by Christ Central; the balance of our funding comes from several local churches and individuals, in addition to one-off grants. We are enormously grateful to St Margaret’s Chipstead for volunteer help and financial provision.

Most clients are referred to us locally but we also accept self-referral – call 01737 887558 or email info@cdamoney.org in confidence for a weekday or evening appointment in our Redhill offices. Here at St Margaret's we are proud to support the work they do, our mission representative is Nic Dodds, so if you would like to find out more, please do not hesitate to contact him.