Help with debt
Are you finding it hard to pay your bills?
This debt toolkit will guide you through the steps that you can take to sort out your money problems. There is no easy answer but acting now will stop the situation from getting worse.
The toolkit is broken down in to steps:
- Steps 1-4: Income and expenses
How much money do you have coming in: Working out how much money comes into your household is the first step towards completing a personal budget. You need this to work out how much money to offer creditors (the people you owe money to).
Maximising your income: One of the most important things you can do to help sort out your money problems, is to make sure you are getting all the income you possibly can. There are a number of ways you may be able to do this – here are a few suggestions.
Where does the money go: In this section, you need to work out how much money you and your family spend on living expenses. -
How much is left over: In this section we look at what money is left after working out your essential living expenses.
The Money Advice Service has created a Budget Planner to help you to organise your finances. To use it effectively you will need to gather your most up to date bills, statements etc before you start. The Money Advice Service- Budget Planner - Step 5: Tackling priority debts first
Priority debts are things like: mortgage arrears, Council Tax arrears. This section explains what priority debts are and why they are so important.
- Step 6: Non-priority debts
You may have debts other than priority debts where the creditor hasn’t got extra powers (for example, they cannot take your home). All these debts grouped together are commonly called non-priority or credit debts - Step 7: Dealing with bailiffs
This section looks at the powers of a bailiff.
For further advice, you can contact our Welfare Rights and Money Advice team.
| Document | Type | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Personal budget sheet | docx | 22.6 KB |
| Sample letters | doc | 28.5 KB |
| Dealing with Debt Magazine | 3.6 MB |
