Do I Need Debt Advice or Not?
Do I need debt advice or not? I have debts – but they’re not too severe. I can afford the repayments – but they’re taking up more of my income than I’m comfortable with. And of course I’m not happy about paying interest.
There’s so many adverts and websites offering free debt advice but I’ve always wondered if it’s actually worth the effort, and whether there’s anything they’d be able to do for me anyway.
So what I did was talk to a friend who’s had similar debt problems in the past. I asked him what he did to sort them out, and he said he started by calling a debt adviser and asking them what he could do.
OK – having a friend with debt problems isn’t exactly rare these days, but the reason I asked him rather than someone else is that he used to be in the same kind of position I’m in today. I remember him telling me that his debts were annoying: they weren’t really a major threat to his lifestyle, but he felt it was worth tackling them head-on so he could get rid of them and stop paying interest.
In a nutshell, he reckons that getting some debt advice was the best thing he could have done. The guy he spoke to went over his situation with him: how much he earned, how much he owed, how much he spent, how he spent it, and so on.
Once he had the facts and figures, the adviser was able to suggest a way my friend could clear his debts.
Basically, what he did was teach him how to budget – how to keep track of his income and outgoings so he could see where to make cutbacks and free up some extra money to put towards his debts and clear them faster.
Of course, the actual work was down to him. His adviser helped him figure out where he could cut back and pointed out how much he could save in interest if he did – but he was the one who had to actually make the cutbacks and live without luxuries for a couple of years.
Looking back, he said it was well worth it, so that’s kind of helped me make my mind up.

