Subject: personal debt & social credit in Georgia
From: Kosta Skliris <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2020 08:19:25 +0000

Dear Ms. Barkalaia,

My name is Konstantin Skliris. I am a board member to the European Consumer Debt Network, ECDN. The ECDN is an non-profit Association of debt-relief agencies from 17 EU and non-EU states (please see: www.ecdn.eu and www.facebook.com/ecdn.page/).

Our goal is to support the development of adequate debt-relief and social credit services within the members' home states and in states where no ECDN members are as yet represented.

I approach you upon the advice of Kakha Khandolishvili, whom I have known for many years. Kakha and I debated on personal debt and debt-relief services in Georgia. He was kind enough to provide me with your email- address. I am greatful for the opportunity to adress you on the matter of personal debt and debt-relief.

We, the ECDN, understand that all states on the European continent suffer from significant levels of personal debt. We estimate that on average approximately 10% of the population have serious financial problems they can no longer resolve by themselves (please see: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/final-report-on-over-indebtedness-of-european-households-synthesis-of-findings_december2013_en.pdf). In case of Georgia that would amount to around 400.000 people. The financial situation of these households creates serious problems- and costs- in a variety of policy areas, including social services, health services, consumer markets, etc. We feel that strong debt-relief and social credits can provide structural solutions to this social problem.

The members of our association provide high quality services on a wide range of products that aim to prevent or resolve financial problems. Our members have intensive knowlegde and they are accustomed to transfering this knowlegde to third parties so as to improve their service delivery. Among our members we also find organizations that offer social credit, the socalled "social banks". Such credits are used to pay off a household's creditors and are repaid to the social bank under very favourable conditions by the debtor. We know form experience that such social credit is very effective in resolving household debt.

Household debt and it's resolution are increasingly considered critical to a healthy social and economic climate. There is increasing attention for the subject in various nation states of the EU and by the European Commission. Recently the Commission published a tender (https://etendering.ted.europa.eu/cft/cft-display.html?cftId=5571) that aims to identify the succes-stories of debt-relief and social credit in Europe in order to advance service delivery in countries where improvements are necessary. Various ECDN members will participate in this tender to provide their knowlegde and skill.

I appreciate the work that you have done in the field of public health and social affairs in Georgia. For debt-relief services and social credits to be succesful policy instruments, political support is crucial. I hope this mail has achieved to raise your interest in debt-relief and social credit and in the work of the ECDN. I am certainly available if you would like to exchange views on the matter and if you would like to investigate the issue for Georgia. We could meet on skype, for example.

I hope this mail finds you well.

Kind regards,

Kosta Skliris

board member ECDN

m: +31615103062

@: [email-masked]