Having a few simple pieces of information to hand before you seek debt advice will make sure the experience goes as smoothly as possible. There are many different organisations out there offering different solutions, but the steps below will stand you in good stead whichever you approach for help.
Firstly, you need to make a list of exactly how much you owe. This may sound simplistic but it is often hard to keep track of, especially when you have multiple loans with different interest rates. You also need to make a list of exactly what the debts are (e.g. credit cards, bills or overdrafts) and who your creditors are for each. When you have done this, you will also be able to rank them in order of priority. Top priority loans are ones where serious things could happen if you don't pay them back, such as you losing your house or even going to prison. Bills and mortgages are examples of this. Lower priority debts are things like store cards and money you've borrowed from friends. Ranking your debts like this helps you to plan which ones need to be tackled first.
Get all the information you can about each of your debts together too. What is the interest rate? What's the minimum repayment each month? How long is the term of the loan? Answering all of these questions will help an advisor out immensely in working out a plan that's appropriate for you.
If you aren't keeping up with your repayments each month, you also need to work out how much they are going over budget by. Work out a spending plan, with how much you are paying out now and how much you can actually afford. This will help the advisor see a concrete figure for how much your repayments need to be lowered. Calculating your spending will also show you areas where you could cut back, which will help you in repaying your debts.
Spending a little bit of time collecting this information together will be worth it in the end. Having these facts to hand means the debt advisor can give you tailored advice and will be able to come up with a solution that is right for you.
Firstly, you need to make a list of exactly how much you owe. This may sound simplistic but it is often hard to keep track of, especially when you have multiple loans with different interest rates. You also need to make a list of exactly what the debts are (e.g. credit cards, bills or overdrafts) and who your creditors are for each. When you have done this, you will also be able to rank them in order of priority. Top priority loans are ones where serious things could happen if you don't pay them back, such as you losing your house or even going to prison. Bills and mortgages are examples of this. Lower priority debts are things like store cards and money you've borrowed from friends. Ranking your debts like this helps you to plan which ones need to be tackled first.
Get all the information you can about each of your debts together too. What is the interest rate? What's the minimum repayment each month? How long is the term of the loan? Answering all of these questions will help an advisor out immensely in working out a plan that's appropriate for you.
If you aren't keeping up with your repayments each month, you also need to work out how much they are going over budget by. Work out a spending plan, with how much you are paying out now and how much you can actually afford. This will help the advisor see a concrete figure for how much your repayments need to be lowered. Calculating your spending will also show you areas where you could cut back, which will help you in repaying your debts.
Spending a little bit of time collecting this information together will be worth it in the end. Having these facts to hand means the debt advisor can give you tailored advice and will be able to come up with a solution that is right for you.
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