Getting into debt is easy with increased access to credit. In any given day you can receive phone calls from credit card companies, store card offers from shops and get a small rainforests worth of mail promising great rate loans. However getting yourself out of debt is a lot more difficult than getting yourself into debt.

If your paying high interest repayments on credit cards then you could take advantage of introductory offers by transferring your balance to a credit card provider that offer 0% balance transfers for the first six months.

The best way to start clearing your credit card debt is to start planning and talking to your creditors to put a plan of re-payment in place. Unfortunately the bills won’t go away if you just burying your head in the sand. Failure to co-operate and reply to letters will eventually lead to the bailiffs knocking on the door and could see you homeless, blacklisted or in the worst cases even jailed.

The first step to recovery is to make a start on working out a money management plan by budgeting and working out your incomings and out goings. The budget planner on this site should help you to do this. However to complete this budget you need to workout repayment plans and calculate your essential living cost.

The next step is to get in touch with your creditors and negotiate an affordable repayment plan. If a debtor shows willingness to pay, then the creditor will usually accommodate smaller payments over a longer period.

Once you’ve arranged repayment plans you should then work out your necessary expenditure on essentials such as shelter and heat. Then subtract your repayments and essentials outgoings from your incomings. If you have any spare cash leftover then prioritise what you do with it and don’t over spend!

If your paying out more than you’ve got coming in then you may need to consolidate all your debts with a larger debt consolidation loan repaid over a longer period. However taking out new loans to pay off old loans is generally not advisable as it often just saddles you with more debt than you started with.

If borrowing more money is the best solution for you then visit our personal loans websites about secured and unsecured loans for more information and advice plus a comparison tool checking over 460 loans.

Consumer Credit Councelling Service : 0800 138 1111
Citizens Advice Bureau : 0207 833 2181