How Best To Manage Debt
No matter how big your problems are, the most important step is to face up to them.
There is often never an ‘easy’ solution to your money problems – but more often than not, debt problems can be resolved with time and effort. Other people have been where you are and managed to turn their situations around.
Here’s some simple but useful advice on how best to manage your debt:
- Assess And Prioritise Your Debts:
It’s key to be brutally honest with yourself here. Clarity is the first step in recovery. No-one else needs to know all of your situation but you can’t deal with a problem until you’re clear about exactly where you stand. List out all of your debts in a notebook or on a computer. Mortgages, credit cards, personal loans and so on. Then organise them in order of priority i.e. the bills that need to be paid first to enable you to survive, like your mortgage/rent, electricity etc. - Work Out Your Budget, Accurately:
Using a budget planner like the one St. Joseph’s Aviation Credit Union has to offer, will help you make a list of all of your income and outgoings. This will help to highlight areas where you could save a bit of money, and it will help you to prioritise your spending. This will give you a feeling of more control and also ensure that you don’t over stretch yourself. - Talk To Your Creditors:
The worst thing to do is to ignore attempts by creditors to contact you – this could lead to legal action, and affect your credit rating. If you find yourself in difficult waters, many lenders will be flexible in helping you to come up with a plan to reduce your debt. But only if you communicate openly with them. Be open to contacting the companies that you owe money to. Be open and honest about your circumstances, and try to come to an arrangement of repayments that you can afford to meet. - Beware Of Borrowing To Repay:
Borrowing funds to pay off loans usually gets you deeper into debt. Stay well away from ‘easy money’, like moneylenders and companies offering ‘pay-day’ advances with what seem like attractive solutions at the time. With legal doorstep lending companies charging rates well above the norm, unsuspecting borrowers are left repaying hundreds of euros in interest alone that they can’t afford which ends up making their situation even worse. The best advice, is to deal with the debt you have without going further into debt.
If you'd like to speak to one of our team on this important area please call us at any of the numbers below.
