A NEW smartphone application to help people deal with debt problems has been launched by a Huddersfield man.

Former debt advisor Sim Ilyas, of Almondbury, has combined counselling with smartphone technology in a new app for the iPhone. The aim is to provide bespoke advice and assistance for thousands of people with financial difficulties.

His company, Debtology Ltd, is making the app available through iTunes.

It replicates independent face to face debt advice through an easy to use smartphone process. 

Mr Ilyas said: "I chose to create this app after 10 years of first-hand experience of debt advice and the banking sector.

"Debt can be devastating and the negative impact is all the more heartbreaking when you realise that the right advice at the right time can make it so much easier to cope.

‘There will always be more demand for advice than provision. I wanted to create a new way to get free advice to people who need it most."

After completing a degree in law, Mr Ilyas worked as a personal finance specialist for the Royal Bank of Scotland and as a specialist debt adviser for Bristol Debt Advice Centre.

More recently he project managed a regional partnership of advice agencies in the South West, delivering free face to face debt advice as part of the Financial Inclusion Fund project.