Warnings of financial 'catastrophe' as National Debt Helpline buckles under record call volumes

The National Debt Helpline says it is buckling under an unprecedented number of calls from Australians seeking financial counselling.

As many as 14,000 phone calls went unanswered in January due of a lack of staff, and experts claimed Australia was on the verge of a debt binge hangover.

It might start with missing a mortgage payment, then the bills start piling up; perhaps a relationship breaks down or you fall ill.

Chief executive of Financial Counselling Australia, Fiona Guthrie, told the PM program the characteristics were different depending on where you live.

"The mortgage stress in places where mining has left is because people's homes are now worth less than their mortgages," she said.

"Now that's quite different to the mortgage stress that you'll have in Sydney and Melbourne where people have had to get really really high mortgages in order to be able to get into the market in the first place."

Financial Counselling Australia claimed the service received a record number of calls in January as borrowers, weighed down by mortgage stress, struggled to cope.

Ms Guthrie claimed around 30 per cent of Australian households were in some sort of financial stress, but there was a smaller group of Australians who were really living on the edge.

"About 20 per cent of the population ... are really struggling and haven't been able to make a payment for example in the last year or have got no cash in the bank if something goes wrong," she said.

Household debt at record highs

The National Debt Helpline said 11,000 people were not able to get hold of a counsellor in January 2016, and this year that number shot up to 14,000 callers.

The Government-funded helpline offers free, independent advice from professional financial counsellors.

Financial Counselling Australia called on both the Government and the commercial banks for help.

"We are going to go through a debt hangover in Australia because our household debt is at record highs," Ms Guthrie said.

"Just imagine what happens when interest rates start to nudge up again and/or if unemployment were to increase and people were to lose their jobs.

"The flow on effect for our economy would be absolutely devastating.

"We've got so much debt and it's at such high levels, the least little wind is going to tip is into something that could look very like a catastrophe."