Are you looking for help with debt in the UK?
25th Jun 2019 Managing your Money
3 min read
The best way to tackle a problem is to break it down, and debt is no different. If you're stuck with unmanageable debts, try these steps to find your way out
The curse of modern man in the UK, and probably the thing that concerns him the most, is money. If you go and ask any man or woman between the ages of 20 and 60 what worries them the most, there’s a pretty high chance the answer you’re going to get is "money."
While prices seem to keep going higher over time, wages have always kept a steady pace that just usually isn’t enough to keep up with how poorly the economy has been doing.
Some people resort to invest as an escape, considering it their only out and the only way they could secure a somewhat stable financial future. Others resort to borrowing money, and with time, a problem arises and they find themselves in debt. While debt is a pit you usually keep sinking deeper and deeper into, this guide will help you find your way out.
A symptom not the problem
Debt is usually a symptom of a much bigger problem in the UK. Before you can get out of this debt, you first need to identify this problem. You should sit down with yourself and start reviewing your spending habits. Where do most of your expenses come from? Are you an excessive shopper? Do you buy things you don’t need and could definitely do without? There are a few candid questions that you’ll need to ask yourself, but the answers will definitely help you get right back on track.
Professional help
Sometimes the only way out of this is to get professional help with debt UK local can depend on. Having a financial expert look into your spending and saving habits is never a bad idea, and their insights can definitely go a long way in setting you straight. There are companies out there that would give you free consultations on your financial situation where they would tell you what they think the problem is and how you can fix it. Some companies also go the extra mile and start covering your debt –– which usually has higher interest rates –– and help you organize your debt in a form of monthly payments that you can actually pay. So it’s important to keep this option in mind and to look for some external help that might just be the answer to your problem.
A budget
Even if you identify the problem and get some professional help to manage it, you still have some steps to take yourself before this is over. The first thing you need to do is create a budget. It’s not rocket science and it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It’s all about the amount of money earned versus the amount spent, and how that ratio can be improved. You’ll find that there are always steps you can take to improve your spending habits, but you need to identify the patterns first before you can do that. And the only way to do that is to create a budget sheet to see where your money is being spent.
The credit solution
There’s a little trick that you can play with your credit card which might actually substantially help with your interest rates. You can get new credit cards to cut down on your current ones’ losses. You’ll find that many banks allow their customers to move their credit debt to newer cards with better rates. It’s a tricky move to pull off, but if done properly, you can save a lot of money by reducing your interest rates in using newer credit cards.
A loan
This is definitely not a standard UK bank loan, we’re talking about here –– that would only serve to make your debt situation worse. But there are other loan options you can resort to. You can get a cheap personal loan with minimal interest, which helps in paying off your current debts. There’s also another option to pay off an immediate debt, which is borrowing money from friends and family who will definitely be more understanding than banks and probably won’t charge you for interest rates, too.
The most important thing in the process of getting out of debt while living in the UK is learning from your past mistakes. Don’t repeat the same mistakes and patterns that led you into debt in the first place, and always exercise good judgement when it comes to financial aspects of your life. It is always a good idea to use any savings you have to pay off debt, or else it would accumulate. And try to use any resources you can get your hands on like free financial consultation to get ahead of your debt problems.
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