Today 107 properties will be repossessed and 1,000 people will make an arrangement with their creditors because they cannot pay their debts and numbers are rising. Avoid the trap that all of us can fall into by analysing your expenditure and earnings. Those in financial trouble guess at their outgoings; fill in the form below and determine your actual expenditure

There comes a time when many of us must consider a new career, especially when we have crashed through the 40 age group. This may be because we have been made redundant and new employment is hard to find or we want a completely new career; a change from what we have done for the last twenty or so years.

The British economy is going through the worst recession since the slump exactly as was predicted by Capital Brokers; despite low rate mortgages, average incomes increasing and banks reputedly lending to businesses. However, the bottom of the dip is probably to come as the government begins its eye-watering cuts, which means high unemployment, pay curbs and endless tax rises.

Now is the time to cut costs and save money in your personal budget.

Cut household energy costs

If you have a debt problem advertisers bombard you with questions like: do you want to freeze your interest rate; reduce the amount you repay each month; reduce the amount you owe each month, and stop your creditors hassling you.  All good stuff and with a debt management programme it may well be realisable but why not create a budget for your self? Have the goal of reducing what you spend.

Cutting expenditure is always a difficult goal to achieve; a goal that is more easily forgotten than new year resolutions. Some striking numbers to motivate you:

There is no other way to describe companies that prey on those that are vulnerable and already in debt. These companies generally advertise that they will buy all outstanding debts of people having difficulty repaying and replace these with a far smaller monthly repayment.

These offers can be a very serious scam.

When a sudden twist in your life leaves you unable to make the minimum payment on your credit cards or meet other household bills what is the way forward? If you can find no way of increasing your income then the first consideration will be your mortgage.. So the only real option that you have is to negotiate with your creditors.

A pitfall that all business people and others should be aware of is the offer by commercial organisations to buy the proprietor’s personal debts and replace them all with a single payment. Foremost amongst these companies was Cartel. Whose solicitors have just been closed down and the company itself has been  shut down by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8574956.stm

What happens when you have debts and no income and no assets? This is often the situation when a family disruption occurs, or a spouse is deserted by a breadwinner or there is a prolonged illness or job loss. In this situation the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) may well be the best solution.

Frightened by Debt Collectors? Bullied by Baliffs? Take a leaf out of the book of Bill Cunningham who was quoted in the Dallas Observer of 20th January 2010 as the man with a simple solution for getting debt collectors off his back.  Kimberley Thorpe a journalist on the Observer reported that  two foreclosures had pushed Cunningham near to financial ruin.