Worried about credit card debt

An increasing number of people are finding themselves in difficult situations as a consequence of overstretching themselves by borrowing too much on their credit cards.

Government figures published in May revealed that individual bankruptcies were up 24.5% on last year, at 10,091. Several lenders, including Barclaycard, HSBC, HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland, have recently warned about bad consumer debts.

If the amount of debt you have on your credit cards is worrying you, it is best to face up to it sooner, rather than later. The worst thing you could do is apply for more credit as this will put you deeper into debt!

You should begin by working out your budget and decide how much you can afford each week or month to pay off your debts. You should contact the card companies as soon as possible, explain the problem and how you intend to pay. You should cut out all unnecessary spending and cut up all your store and credit cards so you can't run up more debts.

If you find you're unable to cut back further on spending and reduce your payments, talk to a free debt counselling service such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, Citizens Advice or Payplan. These organisation should be able to help you to come to an arrangement with creditors. You should avoid any organisation that claims it can help you with your debts but charges you a fee for doing so.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service is a registered charity whose purpose is to assist people who are in financial difficulty by providing free, independent, impartial and realistic advice. They are not a debt consolidation service!