A director of Financial Counselling Hunter Valley Project, Maria Hatch, says her free counselling service has been inundated by homeowners with mortgage stress over the past year.

Ms Hatch said that in the last financial year the service helped 97 people with mortgages, compared with 35 from the year before.

“We never used to see many people on wages but now we do,” she said.

“It’s a little step but I would have liked it to be half a per cent, but it’s a good start.

“There are people with mortgages and they cannot manage to pay the mortgage.

“I’ve got a young couple and their mortgage is $300,000, which is pretty normal these days.

“The interest rate rise (before Monday’s fall) meant their weekly repayments went up by $200.

“You take that with the price of petrol, food, health care and childcare, it’s just blown them out of the water.

“That’s a typical case.”

In the past financial year the service, which covers the entire Hunter Valley, had 480 new clients.

“We had 382 extra second or third, appointments with people,” Ms Hatch said.

The project is based at the Rutherford Community Centre and it started in 1992.

Ms Hatch said it has not needed to advertise because it has always had a constant stream of people needing financial help.

“There’s a big demand for the service,” Ms Hatch said.

Financial Counselling Hunter Valley Project is based at the Rutherford Community Centre and can be contacted on 4932 9777.