TD Canada Trust has launched a new website dedicated to helping customers who are experiencing financial hardship, the company announced on Wednesday.

Entitled TD Helps, the website features video interviews with TD Canada Trust employees who discuss situations in which they’ve helped clients facing financial trouble. The site encourages customers to approach the bank with their own financial concerns, including credit card debt, mortgage concerns, or sudden unemployment.

“We thought and hoped that a lot of our customers would identify with some of the situations our employees have helped with, and that their stories would encourage people to come and see us sooner,” said Tim Hockey, president and CEO of TD Canada Trust.

The idea for the website was spun out from an internal program that TD Canada Trust introduced earlier this year, to train employees on providing solutions for financially strained clients. Employees learned how to use such real solutions as the ability to defer mortgage payments, and to consolidate debt for lower monthly payments.

“The result was that we were helping thousands of customers stay in their homes, get their debt under control and their lives back on track,” said Hockey.

He added that the bank’s employees were the driving force behind the new website.

“While we know it isn’t possible to help 100% of the time, the program has been a huge success and we wanted to spread it to more customers,” he said. “The earlier they come and talk to us, the more we can help.”

IE