Get out of debt

Roy Keane’s supposed philosophy in relation to football at least was neatly summarised in the catchy phrase: ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. People talk these days about what they call ‘unsustainable debt’ usually referring to the national debt of countries such as Ireland or Greece but sometimes in the context of personal debt. Continue reading

Debt Relief Order changes

Major changes have been announced in the Insolvency regime in England and Wales so as to make access to a Debt Relief Order much easier for people struggling with debt, particularly a certain category of insolvent debtors who were caught in a dilemma whereby they did not qualify for a Debt Relief Order and neither could they afford to pay the costs of bankruptcy. Hence the contradictory term: ‘too poor to go bankrupt’. Continue reading

Debt after Christmas

Even if we didn’t overspend at Christmas, it somehow feels as if we did. Spending just seems to expand so as to consume all available cash and then some. It doesn’t seem to matter if we are paid weekly or monthly, Christmas just seems to be like a good vacuum cleaner, sucking up every spare penny. Continue reading

Get debt help

Some years ago a famous advertisement proclaimed that ‘It’s good to talk’. When it comes to resolving debt problems the first option should always be to talk about it. Even when the problems seem intractable, you should at least try to talk to your lenders. It is particularly important that you seek debt help when you begin to miss payments or when you have made late payments or when you have begun to pay your creditors selectively over other creditors, say if certain creditors are putting you under pressure. This behaviour is unfair on the creditors who are treating you better i.e. not putting you under pressure nor sending debt collectors to your door, nor taking legal action against you. Continue reading

How does an IVA work?

Like many experiences in life, you can’t really know how an IVA works unless you experience it for yourself. And because no two IVAs are exactly alike, each experience is also unique in many ways. Various analogies are quoted such as fingerprints, snowflakes and DNA. From a distance they all look the same, yet they all differ. However there are some certainties if a you are to successfully complete an IVA and come out at the other end with a fresh start, debt-free and solvent again. Continue reading

Help with Debt Problems

When things go wrong in life, one of the hardest things to do is to accept and acknowledge that it’s our own fault and that we are to blame. OK, sometimes it is somebody else’s fault. i.e. If a relationship breaks down, the other person may have been the biggest factor in the event. If you lose your job, it may be that your employer really was losing money or it may be that your function no longer existed in the organisation or that a restructuring was really necessary. If you fail your exams, it may be that the paper was unfair and that the questions weren’t really within the boundaries of the syllabus. And when personal debt problems emerge, it’s only natural that our first inclination is to assign blame to circumstances outside of our control and to blame any convenient third party for our predicament. Continue reading

Couple With Debts

When a couple decides to live together, they usually do it for reasons of love and the last thing on their minds is the financial status of their partner. Because love is often blind each partner may bury their heads in the sand in regard to the other’s financial stability at least for the time being. This can be a big mistake. There is much evidence to suggest that debts are a major problem for couples who decide to co-habit or get married and can be a significant cause of subsequent separation and divorce. Continue reading

Using credit before an IVA

If you suspect that you may be insolvent* (unable to pay your debts), you might be thinking about doing an IVA or  going bankrupt. Certainly if you have been defaulting on repayments of unsecured loans and if you have only been able to make minimum payments on your credit cards or store cards, there is a good chance that you are indeed insolvent.

*One definition of insolvency is the ‘inability to repay your debts as and when they fall due’. Continue reading