The first thing to do is to establish exactly how much you do owe and to who. You can use your credit report as a good starting point as most of your credit agreements, including their current balance and limits, will be shown on your own personal credit report. Click here to view your credit report.

Being over stretched financially has far reaching consequences. It can cause great financial hardship now and can wreck your future credit rating if you stop meeting your payments. If your credit rating gets worse then you'll find it increasingly difficult to get credit and other services.

There usually comes a point when despite your efforts you can no longer manage the repayments for the credit you already owe and your debts are often increasing on a daily basis as interest and charges are added to your accounts. You should always strive to keep in contact with your lenders and advise them of your position and seek additional help from a professional debt counselling service.

Never pay for debt advice - the Citizen's Advice Bureau, National Debtline and Consumer Credit Counselling Service all provide excellent free-of-charge services. Links to their websites can be found on our Useful Links page.



Next article:  Acknowledge your debt and start managing your way out