7 Mistakes You Must Not Make If You Want To Get Out Of Debt

Don’t rob Peter to pay Paul

If you find yourself taking out new loans to pay back existing loans at expensive rates of interest because your credit rating is not as good as it once was, it may be time to stop and get help.

Don’t ignore calls & letters

When the letters asking for missed repayments start to arrive, they often fall thick and fast. You can often tell what they are before you open them, you may even leave the letter in the envelope.

However what you don’t know is you can get help to stop these letters and help negotiating with creditors to make repayments affordable. The number of times we hear the story of how a person has kicked themselves for waiting so long before getting help, and if they’d known how straightforward it was they would have acted ages ago.

The other side to this is the amount of money that is wasted on penalty fees – millions! If we all seeked help sooner rather than later we’d the banks would be really miserable as they miss out on all of your hard earned cash.

Don’t trade your way out of debt

We’ve all had a call asking for money we haven’t got and most of us have told them what they want to hear knowing full well that the money isn’t there to pay them or thinking the money will be there once you get paid, a deal comes off and other types of windfall.

The reality is that it’s really difficult to catch-up and it may be worth seeking help before too long.

Don’t go into denial

With debt you can find yourself in a dark place where you can convince yourself and possibly others that all is OK, whist deep inside knowing full well that all is not OK, and it’s actually things are getting progressively worse.

You do not need to suffer – this I promise you. There are people out there who can help – here’s a list.

Don’t be afraid to talk to a real person

The Internet is great. What would we do without it? You would not have found this site for a start. But don’t be fooled. For many subjects the internet can be less useful than you think. The last time I checked out my ailments on Google I was in serious trouble as the big ‘C’ was a real possibility. As you’ve guessed, I am alive and kicking.

The same is true of debt. You can’t find out which path you should take to get out of debt just by going online. You can find out about some of the options but you won’t know which one is really best for you, and you won’t know which one your creditors are likely to agree to unless you talk to a real person with the experience necessary to look at you and your finances, to work how you are going to beat debt with the least money and in the shortest time. Here’s a link to real people you'd want to talk to.

And finally, don’t believe everyone that calls himself or herself an expert

The UK is full of commercial debt advice organisations that get paid if you start solutions like commercial debt management plans and IVA’s, or take out a consolidation loan.

The first thing to point out is there are free debt management plans available so don’t start one that doesn’t involve every penny going to your creditors.

Secondly, there is nothing wrong with IVA’s and re-mortgaging as a way of getting out of debt if they are used in the right circumstances.

This is why we’ve made this list of debt charities we would talk to if we were you. They only offer free debt management and only offer IVA and loans if they’re right for you.