The UK’s advice charity the Citizen’s Advice Bureau were warning recently that they are expecting a great deal more applications for debt help as a direct result of redundancy. The proportion of UK of consumers directly or indirectly affected by redundancies has been steadily increasing in recent times. There’s also been a lot of debate about how the UK might fare for job losses as it tries to steer its way out of recession. If you find redundancy could or is already interfering with you being able to meet debt repayments, there is always free and confidential debt help available to help you manage:

1.Putting Yourself Back In The Driving Seat

It’s common for those affected by both redundancy and debt to feel under some pressure, especially if they have dependents - but there is always reliable help available. Redundancy sometimes brings with it the feeling that many aspects of life are suddenly out of your control. In this case, it can help to know that this is in fact the perfect time to begin regaining some control over your finances. No matter how you are feeling about the situation, the most sensible advice is to contact independent debt advisors to gain empathetic support and understand all the applicable debt solutions.

2.Debt Help Online

You might like to have a look at information about the different legal debt solutions available in the UK on the internet. This can help you feel more informed before contacting debt advisors for help - but do make contact to gain expert advice tailored to your precise circumstances. Be careful of your sources of information - companies that only offer consumers one solution are not always the best places to visit at this time as they don’t represent all the options. The better debt management companies will readily work with all the legal routes out of debt. In the UK, you might want to read up on:

a. ‘Debt Management Plans’

b. Residents of England, Wales & NI: IVAs

c. Scottish residents: Trust Deeds

d. Residents of England, Wales & NI: Bankruptcy

e. Scottish residents: Sequestration

3.Never feel afraid of your debts

If you are dealing with both redundancy and debt, it may help you to remember that debt problems happen to people from every walk of life, and this is especially true during the more challenging economic cycles. The UK charity Credit Action published its statistics for September 2010 which demonstrated the scale of the problems. 1,666 people were being made redundant each day and in less than four minutes, one more person was being declared insolvent or bankrupt in the UK. In times of national uncertainty, it may help to know that there are always debt solutions to solve unexpected problems - including the loss of a job you had every reason to believe would be yours for years to come. For times when you don’t have a regular salary coming in, there are still very well defined legal mechanisms to protect you from the prospect of a ‘never-ending’ cycle of debt.

When it becomes a struggle or impossible to meet debt repayments, some consumers find they feel ‘safest’ if they ignore the debts until such time as they can ‘pay off the arrears in one go’ and so on. While it might feel ‘safer’, it’s actually typically a very damaging strategy to take. Many people are not aware that even without a regular salary coming in, it is essential that contact is somehow made with creditors to avoid making the situation worse. At this point, it is vital to get independent debt help. It’s not necessary in every case to enter a formal debt solution and you can gain valuable advice on all your options at this stage in time. For those people who do find its in their best interests to enter a formal debt solution, it is only ever best approached with the supportive services of debt advice behind you every step of the way.