Handling Your Debts

By Author: Parker Strnad
Total Articles: 1
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Debt has often been something of an awkward subject, generally speaking people don''t like to talk about money and there has often been a perception that people who have found themselves in considerable amounts of debt have done something wrong. Perhaps, in the past, this may have been true, but in the wake of the recession, there are hundreds of thousand of people out there who owe large sums of money through no fault of their own.

Obvious advice is to make sure that your income is greater than the amount that you are spending on a month to month basis. However, if you are one of the several million people in the UK who are unemployed, making your income go beyond simply feeding your family can be a challenge.

One thing that you can try to do is to reduce as many of your outgoings as possible into one, single, debt package. Often this can be done through a credit card with no interest for a certain amount of time. This, however, can be risky if you''re not sure that you can shift the debts by the time the interest free period expires.

When it comes to consolidation, getting a bank loan may not be a good ...
... idea either. A loan is a good idea if you need money for an investment and if you have a plan for paying it off. If, however, you are simply getting a loan to try and amalgamate your outstanding debts into one package and have no idea how you''re going to meet the repayments, a loan may not be the best idea.

A good source of information is the Citizens Advice Bureau. The CAB offers a free service to everyone and can be a useful resource when it comes to managing your debts.

If you have sizeable debts and you''re looking for advice, contact a debt management company. Some people are reluctant to do this, but debt management companies can offer a lot more than just advice. One of the reasons they''re so good at what they do is that debt management companies have established good relationships with many creditors so that when they''re negotiating on your behalf, they can often strike a better deal than you could alone.

Another reason for approaching a debt management company is that they can help you make informed decisions when it comes to default arrangements. Aside from bankruptcy there are a number of other options available to individuals such as IVAs and getting the right advice can be crucial.

Getting the right advice is vital if you are to deal with your debts quickly and with as little pain as possible. Just as with any other aspect of life, there are professionals out there who have experience helping people with debt and you shouldn''t feel reluctant to approach them. Parker Strnad has recently been looking into services to help with debt problems and has taken bankruptcy advice from Blair Endersby.