by Wayne Leon Learmond

Created on: November 22, 2011   Last Updated: February 26, 2012

Stress and debt cannot be compromised in any way. The two go hand-in-hand and are interconnected in such a way that one affects the other. Chronic debt causes stress, anxiety and even physical and mental health problems leading to depression, strokes and heart attacks. This is why you must take control of your debt, before it takes control of you.

The best way to manage your debt is not to ignore it hoping the problem will disappear. This is more akin to placing your head in the sand and not wanting to see the mounting problem building up. If you cannot see it, then it does not exist, right? Wrong, it is still there. No matter what you do. And it will always be there until you confront it head on. By confronting it and taking back control, you will undoubtedly reduce your stress levels, and therefore your health will improve - as will sleep.

Gather together all of the debt you have, from the biggest to the smallest, and consign to them different levels of importance. Credit cards must be paid, so you need to get them out of the way as quickly as possible. By ringing up the credit agency/bank, make arrangements to pay off your outstanding debt. What you will find that just by ringing up your finance provider, they will appreciate it, and come to some sort of agreement with you.

The trick here is to not allow your debt to get too high. This will only happen if you have ignored letters imploring you to get in touch with the ‘said’ companies/banks. Businesses hate it when customers choose to ignore their letters, instead of ringing them and telling them that there is a problem.

Once you find yourself slipping into debt, contact the relevant company as soon as possible. Explain to them the situation and whether you can come to some kind of agreement as to how to pay off the debt. They will appreciate you contacting them and will offer you terms that you can afford. Of course, this would be over a longer period of time, but at least you will be able to pay off what you owe, without leaving yourself short.

However once a new agreement has been drawn up by the company/bank, and signed by you, then it is your duty to meet the new payments. Failure to do so could lead to you being taken to court, and the full costs of the court -plus the cost of the original debt, with VAT added, will be yours to pay.

If you have outstanding debts then you could consolidate them.  This would mean putting all of your debt into one big lump sum and paying

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>