Being in debt can feel like a lonely place. As arrears accumulate, the mood often deteriorates, leaving mounting liabilities and no strategy to sort out the problem.
The good news is that you needn’t suffer alone. Talking to a professional debt adviser might sound like a daunting step to take, but with friendly advice at the end of a phone or via web chat, this could be the turning point for eradicating the debt.
Free advice is available – you can chat now with someone who knows the ins and outs of managing and escaping debt. They can explain how to make a plan to reimburse creditors and support you in developing a repayment schedule. Through online discussions, meetings and the facility to chat, experienced and non-judgmental debt professionals can help you find the most appropriate solutions tailored to your circumstances.
By encouraging you to address a number of key issues associated with your debt, expert debt advisers can help you chart a course towards a debt-free life. They will guide you through a number of stages including:
Acknowledging the debt
Contacting a debt adviser is an important first step in accepting that you have a debt problem. Many people spend too long with their heads buried in the sand, ignoring the fact that their debt is spiraling out of control.
It is also important to quantify and prioritise your debts. Take a comprehensive approach and don’t leave anything out – you’re only kidding yourself if you do. Work out which debts need to be repaid first – debts secured on your property should always take priority, for example.
Identify income and outgoings
Calculate what money comes in each month, and repeat the process with outgoings.
Leave no stone unturned, from your rent or mortgage, right down to that daily latte, include everything. Careful analysis may reveal that you spend a surprising amount on small, unnecessary items – yes, they do really add up!
The information you gathered can be put together into a financial statement, which provides a no holds barred assessment of your economic affairs. A debt adviser can easily help you create this statement, which provides a useful basis for moving forward. Take the opportunity to chat now and see how you can reach this important milestone.
Maximise your income
Now for the nice part – seeing if there are ways you can generate more money to help address your debts. Check out whether there are perhaps Government payments which you may be entitled to, but aren’t claiming. Receiving additional income through things like family tax benefits, child care payments or career benefits could make a real difference to your bottom line.
Other options to consider:
- taking in a lodger,
- getting adult children to contribute to the household budget,
- getting a second job,
- or if possible doing overtime in your current employment.
Chat now with a professional debt adviser who can help make other practical suggestions about maximising your income.
Time for Some Cutbacks
A less pleasant but equally necessary task is to identify where you can save money by reducing what you spend each month. You will have to be pretty ruthless with this if you want to make a real impact.
Could you, for instance walk to work, and save on transport costs? Do you really need that deli sandwich at lunchtime, or could you make a snack at home and bring it with you to work? Doing a bit of donkey work and finding out if you could save money by switching household utility suppliers can seem a bit of a slog, but also has the potential to offer real rewards in terms of money saving.
Involving a debt adviser can help introduce rigour into this process. They will help challenge your reasoning about what you really need to spend money on, and what can be avoided.
Develop a Long Term Strategy
This is where professional debt advice really comes into its own. Once you have faced up to the problem, gathered the necessary information to assess your debt, and identified some quick fixes to reduce outgoings, it’s time to look to the long term.
At this stage, it’s all about developing a fresh approach to finances – a more realistic one. But many of us just don’t have the skills to do this and struggle to see how we can make a proper plan for the long term.
Debt advisers can offer free support and guidance to help you learn how to budget and manage your money moving forward. Their online assistance can include outlining options such as debt refinancing and consolidation. Developing debt agreements is second nature to these people. As they are always available to ‘chat now’, you can make use of their expertise at a time which suits you.
They won’t judge you and will guarantee absolute privacy. As the support is free, it needn’t eat further into your bank balance.
Hiding from debt is never a realistic option, so if you have been denying your problems even to yourself, it’s time to ‘man up’ and take the help that’s on offer. Make the decision to chat now with a debt adviser and take the first step towards a much happier debt-free existence.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Chris Potter
