Many of us, particularly these days have at least some form of debt. Be it a mortgage, personal loan, maxed out credit card or even car finance. What’s not surprising is that often people struggle to make payments on the above debts. Month to month our income does not stretch too far and covering a high amount of outgoings becomes extremely tough. Especially if you have multiple debts, with multiple lenders. If you’re struggling to make payments on your debts however, there are options that you might consider in order to lower the monthly payments you’re making and limit the amount of interest you’re paying to the lender.

The first option and possibly most obvious is to consolidate all of your debts into a single, easily manageable (and affordable) monthly payment. If this is feasible, it could be the answer to all of your debt and financial management woes. By consolidating, you can clear all of your existing debt and arrange a monthly payment to a single lender than you can easily afford to meet each month. No more late fees, charges or penalties. The only downside to this is that it is indeed another loan that you need to take out and you might end up paying a fair amount in interest. All be it, over a longer period of time than your current debts.

The second option would be to consider an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). This should only really be used if your debt has become so substantial that it is unmanageable and you’re unable to meet the payments required. One of the major downsides to the IVA option is that you must have at least £15,000 of debt to qualify in total. You must also meet the payments on the IVA as you would do with a standard personal or secured loan. You will still risk bankruptcy if you do not meet the payments and it should by no means be considering an easy solution to your debt and general financial worries.

adminGeneral30 Jul, 2009Comments Off

One of the major fears that people have who are struggling with debt and make ends meet each month is the fear of Bankruptcy. I can imagine that anyone with significant debt that they’re struggling to clear or service have considered this option as a way out, but is it really necessary? Do we really need to go that far as to declare ourselves bankrupt or are there other feasible options out there that might just save our self respect and credit report.

The key to all good financial management is in the structuring of the debt itself. Debt itself is not an issue if you can structure the return payments in a format you can afford each month. People don’t run into issues with debt and the totals as a whole, they run into issues by either paying too much off each month, more than they can afford or by having too many sources of debt all at one time.

Good debt management is all about making the monthly payments you make work for you in a way to clear / service the debt as opposed to just paying the interest that is amounting. A good debt management firm such as Debt Free Direct will be able to look at all of your monthly outgoings and spot where you can save money and in turn make those extra savings work in your favour. Debt Free Direct might also offer a debt solution that involves the consolidation of your existing credit cards and loans into one more manageable monthly payment. If you can structure your debts in this way, you might end up paying significantly less than you are doing each month yet be paying more off the actual debts you owe in the long run as your money will not be going towards the interest of the loan. By having a minimum monthly payment you can afford, you also won’t run into any unwanted late fees or missed payment fees. Your credit record will be significantly safer also.

adminGeneral27 Jul, 2009Comments Off

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have a lot of monthly outgoings from telephone bills, to mortgage payments to payments of debt such as credit cards and personal loans. You’ll also no doubt agree that keeping track of all of these financial commitments and financial responsibilities is tough. I mean, how many of you can honestly say you know when your credit card payment is going to come out of your current account and for how much? Not to mention when the small, often overlooked bills come out and that’s without even getting into our direct debits. At the last count, I had 23 different outgoings within a single month, all for completely different amounts. I expect some people have a lot more than that too! There is no shame in not remembering all of the figures, amounts and dates involved, but it does make for poor money management. So what are our options? Well the obvious one is to have someone manage our money on our behalf. There are lots of firms that provide such a service but the costs involved can often be horrendous. Particularly if you’re struggling to make ends meet in the first place.

The best option I have found personally is to use a money management software application such as the one I have recently found by Kublax. This single piece of software has helped me out no end when it comes to knowing what is going out of my account and when. It’s certainly a lot cheaper than paying a financial adviser or debt management company also!

The good thing about the Kublax finance software is that you don’t need to be a financial wizard or computer genius in order to manage your finances correctly. The Kublax software has already made me some great savings as I am no longer missing my minimum payments on my credit cards as a result of knowing what is coming out and when and also what is due to come out and when.

adminGeneral24 Jul, 2009Comments Off

Are you facing hundreds and even thousands of dollars in credit card debt and unsure about how the funds are going to be repaid to the credit card company? If you are in this situation, you are not alone. Through the use of credit cards, many consumers find themselves in high levels of credit card debt and are unsure about how to eliminate credit card debts therefore, they find themselves paying the minimum payment, month after month.

Through the credit card debts which have been accumulated, in order to escape debt, the consumer must repay more than the minimum payment every single month. This is the only true way that one can escape credit card debt. Paying more than the minimum payment ensures that additional funds are allocated towards the principal, rather than towards the interest payments each month. When more money is allocated towards the principal, you can find yourself getting out of debt faster, as well as paying less towards the interest payments of the credit card.

adminGeneral13 Jul, 2009Comments Off

Recently, a popular deposit account option has become available to consumers that are seeking an easy way to save money and have the money instantly transferred into their savings account. Through the use of these programs, the individual has the ability to choose an amount over each transaction which is made through the debit card and checking account which will be transferred to the savings account. Once the transactions have been completed, customers are finding themselves with up to several hundred dollars that has been saved effortlessly through the end of the month. Saving has never been easier when it comes to programs like this that allow the individual to literally save, without even knowing it.

Through this program, the amount which is being saved can be easily adjusted therefore the individual can work with budgets that are changing from month to month. As the monthly budgets are ever-changing, the program can even be stopped at any time for a short period of time and then restarted. All of these variables are completely adjustable through the use of the online banking program offered by the bank, or by contacting the bank directly. This way, saving is easy, but it doesn’t have to be a strain on the budget, either.

adminGeneral2 Jul, 2009Comments Off