Dealing with debt Debt can be a drag on your ability to meet other financial objectives. Debt is often very expensive, it diverts financial resources away from planning for the future. There is a four step plan for dealing with debt. First, understanding your current position, secondly stopping making it worse, thirdly drawing up a plan of action and finally implementing that plan. Whilst it can sometimes be scary to get up to date figures and see the current position of your debts, it is always best to deal with debt head-on. Hiding those envelopes and not having a plan of action to repay debt is not good for you or your family. Once you have found out the current level of your debt, your repayments, term of the loan and rate of interest, put these figures onto a single sheet of paper and work out which of your debts (the one with the highest rate of interest) is best to repay first. Create a written plan of action and monitor your progress on at least a monthly basis.
Useful links: 
Free debt advice from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service on 0800 138 1111 or at www.cccs.co.uk
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Free debt advice from National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 or at www.nationaldebtline.co.uk.
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Confidential and independent advice on debt and money management from Citizens Advice at www.citizensadvice.org.uk.