Author: Abdul Aziz
The first step to managing your debt is the knowledge of what you have and what you dont.
You may not even be aware that negotiation, for example could be a solution to your debt management problems. So its a good idea to get a handle on your financial situation so you know what options are suitable and you can begin to plan your debt free future.
Below are the first steps to auditing your assets.
Step 1: Analyse your income and expenditure, what costs are essential? What is wasting your money?
Step 2: What non-essential spending can you cut back on to free up capital to repay debts?
Step 3: Plan a course of action (Counselling, Bankruptcy, Negotiate) using the information you have collected.
You will need to show a clear worksheet of your monthly income and expenses if you are intending to do any of the following:
Sign up with a credit counselling service
- File for bankruptcy
- Negotiate with creditors for alternate repayment plans and reduced settlements
Our website should be viewed as an essential tool in resolving and managing you debt. The menu on the right has advice to reduce expenditure and develop your own personal budget you can stick to. Keeping a diary is one way to discover in depth what income is being wasted. You may be wasting up to 500 a month which otherwise could be reducing your debts.
The majority of adults today are in debt. Being in debt is not always a bad thing provided you can manage the debt. If it wasnt for the availability of credit peoples quality of life would be a lot worse. If you had to save for years before you could afford your 5,000 car your standard of living would be a lot lower while you did this and only the rich would ever own a house!
However, if you are not coping with your debts, being in debt can be a nightmare! You are probably struggling to live on a shoestring budget. You may juggle one debt with another i.e. borrow from Peter to pay Paul. You have probably received constant letters requesting money from you. You may have heard from bailiffs threatening to remove your possessions. A default notice could be registered on your credit file which will damage your credit rating. There is also the threat of court action resulting in a county court judgement (CCJ), or even losing your home.
If you are not paying off your debts you will need to begin managing them effectively and sooner, rather than later or maybe apply for a iva advice. If you have just one debt and you are finding it impossible to make the repayments necessary you should try to negotiate with your creditor to reduce the amount of repayment you need to make per month. Provided you are paying off the most you can afford, there is often very little they can do legally. You may need to make sacrifices and cut down on your spending. If you have several creditors the first thing you should try to do is get a consolidation loan. With a consolidation loan the sum total of all your debts is consolidated into one debt, so that you have only one creditor. Having only one creditor reduces the interest you pay and is less stressful than paying several creditors. When seeking a consolidation loan you should avoid debt management companies. These companies are notorious for exploiting debtors with their high fees. Another option is filing for bankruptcy.