With unemployment currently rising from 2.46 million in the UK, people are increasingly finding that the fact that they found another job shortly after losing the first is not always the end solution. The problem is that when they were going through the period of unemployment, they were set back financially to a point that they cannot recover.

The credit agreements they have fall into arrears and there is little or no chance of earning enough money to catch up, savings have also usually been diminished and this is when the individual starts to seek a personal debt solution such as an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement.

Hard times are ahead for the UK consumer and people need a solution to clear personal debts that they can trust. The IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a UK government approved scheme that is legally binding between the individual who has the debts and the creditors who have leant the money.

• The IVA usually runs for 5 years (60 months) and has an exact end date.
• Creditors will be expected to stop further interest and charges being applied to the credit accounts whilst the IVA is in place.
• Any money left to pay the creditors at the end of the IVA process will be written off.
• In certain circumstances where the individual is a home owner with equity in their home, they will be expected to release some of this equity in years 3-5 of the IVA agreement. This increases the overall contribution back to the respective creditor.

With the rising cost of living on the horizon, household expenditure in the UK is going to be stretched and only those who plan correctly and take advice when required will survive financial turmoil.

If unemployed, one needs to cut costs and be pro active in finding work, downgrade personal expectations in the current economic climate and accept an income that will provide a living.

People in the UK should now start to gear their lives to living without credit, we have been conditioned as a society to use credit and live by using it. The only people who will succeed in the future financially are those who will reduce their need for credit to a basic level.

If you have been considering a debt solution such as an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement, you will be familiar with an alternative personal debt solution called a debt management plan. It is important to be aware that a debt management plan is NOT legally binding and does NOT have an exact end date.

Some companies will claim they can write off all your debts, you should be very careful of these claims, only certain amounts of debt can be written off under an IVA agreement and a voluntary petition or creditors’ petition for bankruptcy is the only process that would usually write off 100% of any persons’ unsecured debt.

When you enter into an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement, your IVA is managed by an Insolvency Practitioner and this person is legally responsible for proposing the case to your creditors and administering the IVA process on your behalf. An IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement should not be entered into without much consideration.

You are at risk of being petitioned for bankruptcy by your creditors should your IVA fail. An IVA can fail for many different reasons and the main one usually is due to the client no longer being able to afford the agreed monthly repayment. In this situation, the Insolvency Practitioner will re assess your income and expenditure and offer advice accordingly of what the best route forward for you would be.

• A great number of people do successfully complete IVAs’ and are then confident that they chose the best solution to clear their debts.
• To qualify for an IVA an individual would have approximately £25000 of unsecured debts and be able to contribute a disposable income repayment of around £250 per calendar month.

Not all situations require an IVA and you should not enter into an IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement without much prior consideration. For further advice regarding personal debt issues please call our free debt helpline using 0800 018 6868, lines are open 24 hours a day and your call is free.

It is a very realistic possibility that in the near future people are going to find that the mortgage payments they are making will increase.  This is only in line with interest rates set out by the Bank of England. 

Most mortgage owners have benefited from a reduction in monthly repayments over the last couple of years but these very same people may find themselves struggling again as interest rates are hiked up. 

The people on repayment mortgages will have some movement back to interest only but those paying only the interest will be most at risk.  If you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other loan secured against your home then you are at risk of losing your property. There are a great number of people with mortgage arrears that are simply trying to get ahead and out of the arrears, they are also very much at risk of a raise in interest rates by the Bank of England.

The first thing you should do if you think you are struggling with your mortgage repayments is to create or revisit your monthly budget for your finances in the home.  If you are not able to keep within your budget deal with the part that is the problem,

• Do you need more hours at work or a better paid job?
• Are you spending too much in certain areas, housekeeping etc?

When you deal with a financial issue it can seem as though you are the only one with the problem, you are not and there are many people in the UK at present with the very same if not greater financial problem.

At Lewis Alexander, we specialise in helping people from all different walks of life with financial problems usually caused from changes in their personal circumstances.  These people usually all have either mortgages or rental agreements with landlords and all our advice is confidential.  We help people every day to regain control of their finances and look forward to a fresh start.  

If you think you are going to fall behind with your mortgage repayments or any residential rental agreement you should seek advice as soon as possible.  Most advice you seek is free but do not pay upfront fees for any advice, these companies are only helping themselves.

You can contact Lewis Alexander free of charge 24 hours a day using free phone 0800 018 6868

Prepare a list of questions that will help you identify if they are trust worthy and reputable, how can you be sure you can trust the actual comparison web site itself.

Who is doing the homework on the debt management companies being compared and how often is the information updated?

Lewis Alexander was approached by a service claiming to be a debt management company comparison website for people confused by debt, they offered us the opportunity to pay them to be listed on their site, we asked them why we should pay to be compared for the consumers best deal, they could not answer our question so we did not advertise with them.

The lesson we can learn from the likes of Direct Line Insurance is that they cannot be found on comparison websites. This is a very large company owned by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, why would they not be on comparison websites if they were so beneficial to them or their customers?

The only way we could see a debt management comparison website working was if it listed every debt management plan available in the country to a consumer at the time of the consumer search, without a total comparison of all debt plans available, how would the consumer know which company offered the best deal?

• They would only be aware of the best deal amongst the companies advertising on the debt comparison site. This is NOT a total comparison!

You should be very careful when taking information and advice on something as important as your personal finances.  A company that specialises in comparing companies is doing just that, you should take financial advice off of a company who specialises in giving financial advice and clearing consumer debt, not just one that tries to compare companies that actually do just that.

If you are confused by debt problems and solutions available to clear debts, you can call our free debt helpline 24 hours a day in absolute confidence using 0800  018 6868.

• Our trained advisors are waiting for your call!

• Did you know it was possible to improve your credit score without actually having much funds available in your personal bank account?
• It is even possible to obtain a good credit score after having a bad credit rating, when living in and out of a personal overdraft!

To increase your credit score or improve your credit rating you need to pay any credit account you have on time and make sure your payments are for the correct amount. It does not matter how much money you have in your bank account. It is as simple as that, if you are struggling with credit accounts get rid of them where possible.

 Start a fresh and gain control on a monthly or weekly basis!

Car finance and all other types of credit agreements are listed on your credit report so it is important too keep up with all agreements not just the ones that are important to you.

Most people suffer from a bad credit score due to not being able to keep up with regular monthly repayments, some months they encounter extra unexpected living costs, such as motor breakdowns and domestic appliance problems.

• These tend to need immediate attention which costs and these costs are what tend to set the individual back.

When payments are then missed for credit accounts, the credit companies are duty bound to update the credit reference agencies monthly such as Experian and Equifax.  These credit reference agencies keep your credit file up to date so that when you apply for any borrowings or credit, the lender you are applying too has the right with your permission to search your credit file for any information they may require to either approve, or decline your application.

• When an application for credit is refused or turned down, the lender is under no obligation to tell you why.  This can often offend people but the policy not to disclose the reason for decline is normal practice within the credit industry.

If you have never seen a copy of your credit report, it can at first take time to understand.  Once you have seen it you will feel more comfortable looking at it next time you need to, and so on.  It is important to keep a check on your credit report as this can inform you of any searches that have been made in your name without your awareness.

Credit Expert from Experian is the most well know of the credit reference agencies that allow you to view your credit report online.  They offer a free 30 day trial.  This is a trading name or brand of a company called Experian who advertise on Television, you may have seen the credit expert TV adverts.

Lenders use different parts of your credit report to assess if they are able to lend to you, this differs from lender to lender.  If you make multiple applications for credit and get refused within a short period of time, say one day to a week or even within one month, you can reduce your credit score that way, so be careful when applying for credit.

Prospective lenders do not like to see many refused applications for credit within your file over a short period of time, it can show that you are desperate to obtain the credit and this can worry a lender.

If you need advice regarding clearing personal debts after suffering a bad credit history, you can call our free debt helpline 24 hours a day in total confidence using 0800 018 6868.

Personal debt has been driven up by our previous government allowing banks to basically over lend, just like the previous government increased the countries own debt level.  It all has to be repaid at some point and now we find the banks are unable to lend against property unless people can provide a deposit, in some cases being up to 35% of the desired property value. Interbank lending reductions are also showing signs of returning.  This means money becomes even shorter in supply generally throughout the entire economy.

If we look at consumer personal debt levels, these have been created via irresponsible lending and irresponsible spending, but not in all cases. 

Some people have also consolidated their personal unsecured debts such as credit cards and loans, store cards and catalogues into either a new secured loan against their home or into the existing mortgage by remortgaging the money from available equity in their home.

This is very risky when you think that in the very near future, interest rates will have to start going up again and that will mean that people again will feel the squeeze in their monthly budget as their mortgage or home repayment costs go up.  Some will be able to manage the increase and some will not, these are the people that really should be looking in their most trusted crystal ball at the moment.

When lending by banks against property reduces it can also mean that house prices in turn may fall, this is because people have to be more realistic about the value of their house for sale purposes if they really wish to move quickly, banks will only lend money against a property for what it is worth, not for what a vendor feels they have spent on it which actually becomes perceived added value.  The perception of increased value is not always there in the eyes of the banks at the point of lending!

International investment from outside the UK from people moving here or buying second homes here, coupled with the fact that demand in the UK for new affordable housing is outstripping supply and has done for the past couple of decades, means that this supply and demand issue for new affordable housing could be the only saving grace to our UK housing market, if the international money which usually goes directly into London stops due to global issues and the banks don’t inter lend, then the only people buying houses will be first time buyers with very large deposits, therefore a reduction in most house prices would follow.

If you have unsecured personal debts and a mortgage to pay each month you should make sure that the credit repayments are not eating up the majority of your income, if they are it is time to seek some personal debt advice.  If you think things could get out of control for you financially if you suffered a change in circumstance, then you should be planning ahead just in case.

When you repay credit cards and loans, sometimes you are servicing the debt by only paying interest that is accruing, this is as good as renting your debt off of your creditor, you must get into a debt reduction plan as soon as possible if this is the case.

• Taking the first step to sorting a financial problem is usually the hardest, as with most unfamiliar things we do in life.

If you need professional advice regarding your outstanding personal finances then call our free debt helpline today in confidence using 0800 018 6868, lines are open 24 hours and your call is free.

It never ceases to shock our financial advisors how many people actually are not aware that they may be able to get a better deal on their existing

• car insurance
• home insurance
• life insurance

or for any insurances they may be paying premiums.

• Insurance can be costly, but even more expensive if you choose the wrong product or type of cover.

For years, insurances of all types were mis-sold and nowadays it is correct to say that the insurance industry within the UK has been regulated and is monitored carefully by the respective authorities.

When you choose an insurance policy, it is not always clear which is your best option, therefore, the advice you get regarding the policies available is of paramount importance.  A broker with access to all different policies made available through many different insurers can be one option for you to buy your insurance, another could be to go direct to one insurer and this way you would cut out any middle man fees, the problem being you will only be advised on the policies that company can offer, there may be a better policy with another direct insurance supplier. 

• So what do you do?
• Do you call all of them or use comparison sites such as moneysupermaket or gocompare or even comparethemarket?

We would recommend using what we call a comparison broker, this way you feel it is fair to pay a broker fee if the broker explains the different policies available and in turn helps you to come to a sound decision.

When in personal debt, it can be most important to consider every option available within your means to reduce your outgoings; this includes things such as motor or car insurance, home insurance and life insurance etc. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised at the savings you can make just by changing insurance company.

The average domestic car or home insurance policy will usually run for about 1 year, and then it will be ready for renewal. The industry and insurance companies change their policies so frequently that when it comes around again for you to renew, the products available could be very different and far more attractive than your last policy, 12 months is a long time in the insurance industry.

Please remember to shop about for the best deal, it is not always the one that is easily found, these companies use clever and expensive marketing tactics and campaigns to generate an enquiry from you, make sure you know exactly who you are dealing with and who will be supplying the insurance.  For most people this information may sound basic but for many of us insurance is still an unknown but necessary evil!

For help and advice regarding any personal debt problems please contact our free debt helpline in confidence using 0800 018 6868, our lines are open 24 hours a day and your call is free.

The above is exactly the same as when an individual or consumer leaves a personal debt problem to grow out of control without taking action to balance the income and expenditure into the household.

The longer the debt problem is left un-managed, the greater the problem becomes to manage!

Debt Management plans have been around in the UK since the early nineties, they offer consumers in personal debt an informal opportunity to pay off debts without having to borrow any more money to do so.  Debt Management Plans came about due to people finding they could not obtain any further credit to consolidate, or put into one, all the other debts they had accumulated.

If you find you are in need of a debt management plan, the first thing you should do is contact a reputable debt management company.  This way you can obtain advice regarding your personal situation.  You should not be charged any fees up front when being advised and only if you decide to use that particular debt management service should you be asked to part with any money.

Debt Management in the UK is very common place in the personal finance industry and when a debt management plan is operated professionally by a reputable personal debt service, consumers can find that a debt management plan is a very useful solution to clear personal debt problems.

A debt management plan can help you to clear unsecured personal debts such as, credit cards and store cards, personal loans and overdrafts, catalogues, book clubs and even allow for you to repay car finance, mortgages and other commitments as part of the solution if your disposable expenditure allows for it. All secured debts such as car finance, mortgages and secured home loans have to be kept up and cannot be included within the debt management companies’ dealings with creditors, the debt management company must make an allowance within your expenditure for you to maintain these payments as they constitute your priority debts, this is how they form part of the overall debt solution that a personal debt management plan can offer.

Priority debts are debts that must be paid before others are taken into account, for example your mortgage payments must be taken more seriously than your credit card payments.  It sounds so simple but the pressure that credit card companies can put on people who owe them money is often enough to make them prioritise the credit card repayment over the mortgage repayment.

This is why the press report horror stories daily about people who have lost their home due to failing to keep up with mortgage or rental payments.

If you find yourself in need of help and advice regarding a debt management plan or other form of personal debt solution, please contact our free debt helpline 24 hours a day in the UK using 0800 018 6868, our lines are open and your call is free!

Are you a victim of miss-sold PPI?

Could you be entitled to reclaim Payment Protection Insurance on your credit cards & loans?

If you have or have had a credit card or loan or other type of personal credit agreement with payment protection insurance in the last 6 years, you could make a claim!

These adverts and catch lines are all very familiar when searching the internet for information regarding a Payment Protection Insurance Claim or PPI claims as they are known in short.

Companies will offer you the possibility of being able to make a claim for PPI miss-selling, this is when you have paid for payment protection insurance on a loan or credit card and did not ask for it etc.  There are a number of legal reasons why people are able to reclaim the fees they have paid out on Payment Protection Insurance and claims companies will do this work for you for a fee.

The fees that PPI Claim companies charge can vary and some are very high and some are reasonable, it is hard to find reputable companies that specialise in this sector as a great number are just enquiry generators who do not actually do the work for you.

• There should be no upfront fees charged by a company to review a PPI Claim!

Certain well known high street lenders have suffered massive fines from the authorities for misselling Payment Protection Insurance and the amount of money being claimed back by individuals is also very high.

• Payment Protection Insurance in itself is not something that does not work, It does!

PPI will cover you for repayments of personal credit agreements should you fall sick, become unemployed or simply have an accident.  These payments are usually met by the insurance company for up to one year.

• The way PPI has been sold or miss-sold is where the claims are arising from!

From the FSA Financial Services Authority to the FOS Financial Ombudsman Service, these PPI companies have been fined, warned and reprimanded.

The finance companies make a lot of money from the add-on products such as PPI; this is where they make most of the profit from in the sale to you.

If you think you have a genuine claim for being miss-sold Payment Protection Insurance contact our advisors today in absolute confidence and we will help you select a company that processes PPI Claims on a daily basis.

Call Free today using 0800 018 6868

How do you know when you need personal debt assistance?

Have you already tried to find a debt company to assist you?

Is there any debt assistance that actually works?

Yes there is, at Lewis Alexander we pride ourselves on being honest with you about your present situation, we do not dress up the truth to make you like what we hear.

This often difficult for many people to accept, however, after few months of using our debt assistance services for debt management, most clients are very relieved that the stress and worry of letters and phone calls from credit card companies is at last reducing if not stopped.

When you need assistance with debt it can be a very daunting and stressful time.

Most people do not deal with the debt problem at first and this can make it harder for any company to assist you when you finally get around to contacting them.

• Not all debt assistance is actually assisting people!
• It can at times only be assisting the company you may have selected to help you!

Again, Lewis Alexander are always honest about timescales to clear debt and people use our services a lot of the time to keep things organised and that peace of mind works wonders for levels of personal stress.

When clients call our free debt helpline for assistance with their personal debt, we find that most people are very able to understand the situation they are in, this is because when they have started the process of finding some sort of debt assistance, they have usually been applying for loans along the way, that is the first thing the human mind would think of to assist in clearing debts.

• It’s NOT the most economical way!

Another loan is simply going into debt to try and get out of it, adding further interest costs along the way, this is okay if you do not have any outstanding arrears on any other credit or loans as if you do and you are not in a position to repay them, how can you afford to borrow any more money?

• That is usually when people select the services of a debt management company!

Debt management companies can assist you to clear your debts without further loans.  It is not very easy to understand at first but the more you look into a debt management plan, the more sense it will make as an option to assist you if you qualify.

An IVA will clear your debts in a fixed period of time, usually 60 months / 5 years.  The IVA or Individual Voluntary Arrangement is a legally binding agreement between you and your creditors which at the end will leave you debt free.  An IVA is logged on your credit report but can for an excellent way to obtain debt assistance if your debt level exceeds £25000.

For confidential help and debt assistance advice please call our personal debt helpline using 0800 018 6868, our lines are open 24 hours and your call is free!

Trying to find a Debt Support Service in the UK?

Unable to get a loan to consolidate your financial problems?

Struggling to understand how best to help yourself? 

When you need debt support, it is very hard to find a company that you can trust.  Most personal debt advice that you obtain from debt support companies will tell you that the best option is either;

• An IVA
• Bankruptcy
• A Debt Management Plan
• or possibly even another loan or form of finance such as a remortgage.

It is not usually an every day occurrance being forced to deal with such options of financial relief, however, it is important that you do not allow any individual or company to push you into any debt consolidation agreement without you being fully aware and educated on how you will benefit and in what way your chosen debt solution could affect you.

Debt support services exist all around the UK, some charge the clients fees directly for the service they provide and some charge the clients creditors for the work they do on the clients behalf.

• These companies trade as charitable organisations and guise themselves as free debt support services.

 A good debt support service will have the clients best interest at heart and by managing the financial problems in a structured manner, the client usually feels relief from the pressure within days of joining the support service.

When a not so reputable debt support company starts to manage a clients finances, the client does not actually get to find out that the service is less than standard until it is too late and the debts are usually in a further mess than they were previously.

Be warned that anyone in personal debt is classed by the Office of Fair Trading as a vulnerable consumer, this means you are at risk of other people or traders / companies taking advantage of your current financial circumstances. People will lie to you even when it is to do with something so serious as personal debt support.

Most people that call our free debt helpline for debt support, struggle to find a way that enables them to pay bills when they can afford to pay them and the amount that they can afford to pay.

If you set a budget each month that you stick to, this can be the first step to financial freedom, you may not have all the things that you wanted that month but you will certainly not have a credit card bill for items that you most problaby never needed. Not all personal debt is built up from what we call “retail therapy” but you would be surprised at how much is.

When you have decided that you need to obtain confidential support regarding your financial situation, please call our helpline without delay, often the sooner you sort and solve a debt problem, the easier it actually is to manage.

Call Lewis Alexander free using 0800 018 6868, lines are open 24 hours / 7 days a week and your call is free!