The Client Council also thinks with you

It's always nice to have someone think with you and help you get things back in order. Especially if you are faced with a situation or problem that is difficult to solve on your own. You can enlist the help of a Thinker free of charge. One way of doing this is through the Client Council. 

Bertien Mayntz talks more about the guidance the Client Council can provide along with Financial Mate. 

"Anyone with a narrow purse can come to us with questions. We help with filling out forms, applying for pensions, administration and other financial matters. If we can't help, we look for help in our network. Very sometimes we have to sell no, but that doesn't happen very often. Many of our clients are women born between 1950 and 1955 who have lost their partners. Usually they have never or hardly ever worked outside the home. As a result, they have not built up a pension of their own, and are therefore more likely to have financial problems. Older people are more often not so handy with computers. Sometimes language is a problem, for example if someone only speaks dialect at home and has always worked in Germany. Then on the phone it can lead to misunderstandings if that person calls a company with 'Dutchmen'."

Of course, there are also many other people who seek our help. The Client Council is also there to explain why people do or do not get something, to translate letters into simple language, to take people step by step through a process. Everything comes along; from late payments to a seasonal worker being evicted, from applying for foreign pensions to mediation between UWV and the municipality.  

Four people on our team are Financial Buddy. They specialize in debt assistance; one person specializes in taxes. All staff come from a financial background or are experts by experience. We also rotate in the GeldWijzerWinkel, where together we give advice and help with questions about, for example, payment arrangements and administrative things. The Financial Buddies regularly go to great lengths to arrange things for a client; they don't just give up.

From the start of the Meedenkers there has been much better cooperation between all agencies. We know how to find each other better. As a result, we can find broader solutions for clients. The Clients' Council is a legal obligation under the Participation Act. We give solicited and unsolicited advice to the municipality and during our consultation hours we offer help free of charge. Through cooperation with the other Meedenkers, we can get things done that clients do not always manage to do themselves. If you ask for help on behalf of an organization such as the Clients' Council, more often than not things work out."

Want to know more?

Thinkers 

The Client Council and Financial Buddies