photo credit: milena mihaylova
When people give advice it is usually affected by their own prejudices and interests. Therefore if you are in debt and looking for credit advice and debt help in the UK (or elsewhere), individuals might tell you that you need to struggle to pay off your debt. This could be because they have not knowledge of debt relief procedures or that they resent the idea that people can be relieved of some of their debt.
Any companies that you get advice from will be influenced by the solution that they are selling, and how much money they can make out of it.
Even charitable organizations will be staffed by people who take their own life experience (and their record of success or otherwise with particular debt solutions) into account. It takes a very skilled debt counselor to completely ignore their own experiences and judge a debtors situation objectively.
This is why that I think that it is essential for people in debt to find out as much information about the various solutions (Debt Management Plans, Individual Management Plans, Bankruptcy etc.) as they can. I also strongly recommend that they get help from a qualified adviser. If the debtor has read widely on debt solutions then they are more able to work towards a satisfactory debt solution with their adviser than if they simply rely on the adviser to tell them everything. It is a case of using your debt adviser as a resource to achieve the most suitable debt solution for you rather than surrendering all control over the situation.
In my own personal debt crisis I had decided that a Voluntary Individual Arrangement (IVA) was the best solution for me, even though the debt advice company that I consulted initially suggested an informal arrangement. I persisted asking for my preferred solution and in the end they agreed. This was actually the method I ended up using to become debt free.
