Most debt problems can be sorted out, usually by agreeing affordable payments with your creditors. We describe how to do this here.
The basic steps
To get the best results, work through all the stages, dealing with your whole financial situation. So that you can move smoothly between the stages, links to all six are shown on the right of each page.
Under
Other Debt Matters, we cover questions you might have on credit reference agencies, different types of court and how to complain about a creditor.
You will probably be able to find the help you need through these pages and their links. If you have debt problems that you cannot deal with yourself,
see our list of advice organisations.
There are some situations in which a more formal method can be best, but you would pay a fee and there can be other disadvantages. Check first whether the informal method described here would suit you. Later, we summarise
formal arrangements, so you can check these out too.
Before you start
Some basic rules for dealing with debt problems are:
Do not:
- ignore debt problems
- ignore court papers or creditors’ letters
- borrow to pay off debts without first getting advice
- pay a fee to get debt problems sorted, without first seeing whether you could do it yourself or get free help.
Do:
- deal with all your debts
- fill in and return any court forms
- go to any court hearing
- sort out any priority debts before other debts.
To get started, go to the right of this page and click on Stage 1: More money in your pocket.
