 |
| Follow
a five
point action plan: |
|
| 1.
How much do you owe? |
| List
your debts. Work out when payments fall.
Identify the priority debts. |
|
| 2
How much do you earn? |
| Work
out how much money you have coming in. Are
you claiming all the benefits you are entitled
to? Are you paying too much tax? |
|
| 3.
What do you spend? |
| List
your essential and less essential spending.
Compare it with your incomings. What do you
have left over to offer to creditors? |
|
| 4. Nothing
left over? |
| Are
there any areas in which you can cut down
your spending? Is there any way in which
you could earn extra money? |
|
| 5.
Talk to your creditors. |
| Send
them a financial statement showing your income
and outgoings. Explain your offer to pay
off your debt. |
|
| Face your
debt problems |
| The sooner
you face any debt problem, the easier it
will be to solve it. Don't ignore it and
hope it will go away. If you do, you could
end up in court, lose the goods you've bought
or find it difficult to get credit in future.
You might even lose your home. Even if you
aren't up to your neck in debt, it's suprising
how quickly it can build up and how long
it takes to pay back. |
|
| Work out
exactly how much you owe, who you owe it
to and what you can pay back. This will help
sort things out in your mind, and help your
creditors to see where you stand. Contact
the creditor(s) as soon as possible to explain
the problem and try to come to some agreement
about repayments. Your debt won't be written
off but you might be able to pay it back
in smaller payments over a longer period
of time. This will probably cost you more
in interest payments in the long term but
may be more manageable now.
|
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