You are pre-approved! Every time I check my mail there is at least one or two pre-approved credit card applications. You get them too, I’m sure. You can even have terrible credit and they still continue to flood your mailbox. And if you just filed bankruptcy you will get more of them than you know what to do with!

Credit card debt is so easy to get into–over and over again. Most people don’t feel like they are spending real money until the bill comes, and then it’s too late. The credit card companies know how to make it very tempting to fall back on any good habits we’ve created and just spend away. It’s hard to get away from, but we have to resist temptation.

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Here at the Help With Debt helpline we are often taking calls from people who have built up a welter of credit card debt. These callers have often waited for months before making that call and can often be distressed and feel they have nowhere to turn.

We are always delighted to be able to provide solutions to credit card debt. It may be that that solution is actually bankruptcy. Every week we take people through the bankruptcy process who have credit card debt. Many advisors will tell you that bankruptcy for credit card debt is the last solution you should consider. Here at help With Debt we think that the best solution to any debt problem is the one that is right for you. Not the one which may make someone on the end of a “helpline” the most commission. Yes it true many people that you call, are remunerated on selling you “their solution” which id often an IVA and they can earn thousands of pounds per month as a result of getting you to return their sign up pack.

At Help With Debt, if we give you the solution it is because it is best for you, not because we can earn money from it.

If you have credit card debt, and let’s face it who doesn’t? Then you need to deal with it. If it is not a large amount of debt then the problem can be managed by debt management, if you can afford a monthly payment in excess of £100. If not then it might be a Debt Relief Order.

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If you have store card debt that you cannot manage in these hard times it may be the right moment to see if you can deal with it via debt management. Store card debt is a very expensive way to take on credit to pay for goods. Store cards are very often pushed in store as a way of generating sales commission for staff. These store cards are often made to look enticing by combining the taking of the store card with a “free gift” or discount. In reality unless you clear the store card of the credit put on it at once you will end up paying interest on your purchases in excess of 30%.

Here at Help With Debt we take calls from some of the people who hold the estimated 2 million store cards. They are often struggling to meet the monthly commitments on these cards, due to the high interest rates charged.

One of our solutions to this type of debt is debt management. This is a simple and effective method for combining all your debt from store cards and credit cards and loans, and then paying one simple monthly payment via a debt management company to all your creditors.

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Nearly everybody has a credit card or two in their wallet. There has been a massive explosion in the amount of available credit on cards as the American banks entered the UK market. As the number of credit card providers has risen, so have the number of people in credit card debt.

If you have debt problems it is likely to be as a result of taking out too much credit on cards. The problem lies in part with the card companies who have made it too easy to get credit by not making checks on applicant’s existing borrowings. Many of the people who take free debt advice from Help With Debt, tell us that they were able to take out card after card and run up a balance and then switch that balance to a new card, on interest only, only then to run up a big debit again on the cleared card.

This just means that the credit card debt gets bigger as the balances are not being cleared. If you have a credit card debt problem, it is not the end of the world. It is very easy to deal with the debts in such a manner that you only pay what you can afford off of your debts. You may even be able to stop charges accruing and interest being placed on the accounts, thereby giving you a real chance to pay the cards down.

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The Individual Voluntary Arrangement, otherwise shortened to the IVA is a very popular method for people in England and Wales to deal with debt problems arising from the use of store card debt. This year about 40,000 people will seek to enter an IVA. Many of these will have store card debt among the various debts that they are seeking to deal with.

It can seem very tempting to take up the offer of a store card for a significant purchase. When in store the sales staff are very keen to get you to take up their cards and so you will find them coupled with a free gift or a discount. This is because the commission earned by the staff is very lucrative to them, and the profits earned by the store on the commission can be huge.

In the UK interest rates are currently at 0.5% (Nov 2009). Interest rates on store cards are at 30% plus. It is one of the most expensive forms of borrowing you can now take out. It is a great idea if you can take a card and get 20% off your purchase, use six weeks interest free before making a payment to clear in full. The store bank on the evidence of usage that they have accumulated that you will not.

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Clear my debts say our callers to the Help With Debt free telephone helpline. The good news is that we can. For almost every caller there is a debt solution that the team here at help with debt can propose. You say if only I can clear my debts, I can get my life back on track.

It doesn’t matter to us how you entered a debt situation, our sole aim is to provide the appropriate solution for you.

So if you got into debt from:-

A relationship break-up or divorce

Unemployment, loss of overtime or redundancy

Too much credit on store cards

Too many credit cards

Taking out a personal loan you can’t repay

Paying for the expenses on a funeral of a loved one

Entering into a car loan for a vehicle you can’t afford to run

Gambling

Not paying your taxes on time

A mortgage shortfall or re-possession

We will have the solution for you. The main point is to realise that you are not alone. Millions of people in the UK now have some sort of debt issue, and as a result a raft of solutions to clear your debts have come into being.

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Dealing With Credit Card Debt

With debt levels in then UK reaching record highs, based mainly upon credit card debt, here at Help With debt we are getting many calls from people with credit card debt they can’t now pay.

Debt from credit cards grew rapidly in the 1990’s and 2000’s as major credit card companies raced each other for share of the credit card market. Big players such as MBNA credit card and Capital One credit card, seemed to give one or two credit cards to anyone who applied.

Of course a credit card is not a bad thing if you can make payments against it, but often, having access to easy credit with only minimum repayments to be made has been too much of a temptation for many people and many of those in debt who call us have up to 15 different cards which they have taken out as each previous card reached a limit.

The typical credit card debtor will have maxed out a number of cards and now will be unable to make payments against those cards. The problem will have come to a head as a result of card companies, withdrawing offers of new credit, cutting credit limits and despite falling interest rates, raising the cost of borrowing on those cards. This is a pernicious situation as the credit card companies know that the borrower with major credit already on their card, cannot get credit at a lower rate to pay the card off, and so are stuck paying interest sometimes up to 30%.

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How to Deal With Store Card Debt

Britain’s shoppers are addicted to store cards. Some 11 million of these have been issued or are in circulation at the present time. Store cards are pushed very hard by the stores because they attract loyalty and they generate huge revenue. Up to 2 billion may be outstanding and owing on store cards at any one time. Take advantage of our free store card debt helpline if you have store card debt you cannot pay off.

Expensive

The store card is a branded credit option provided by some of the high streets biggest names, but this form of borrowing is very expensive indeed. At the time of writing interest rates are at an all time low of 0.5%. Even if you are coming to this later and rates have changed, they will never be close to the 30% plus rate of interest that store cards charge.

Advantages

This list is small for a reason. They are not good value. Ok if you are the type of person who can clear the card in full at the end of the interest free period they are ok to use. The percentage of people that use a store card and do not pay interest is very small.

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The global economy has hit really bad, especially to home owners who see filing for bankruptcy as the only way out. They do this whether they need to escape mounting unpaid bills including mortgage payments or because they believe that it would help them out paying the same. Most are proven wrong with their choices only in the end. For those who are planning to file for bankruptcy, here are some of the things you will have to take into consideration before going forward with bankruptcy plans.

The most obvious consequence

It is the worst and the most obvious of the consequences of filing for bankruptcy, a bad credit score or credit report. And no matter how you are able to deal with the bankruptcy problem and emerge victorious, in the sense that you get richer in the future, it will make no difference. A bad credit report is a bad credit report, and that report will remain there for up to ten years, or even longer in some cases.

The subtle yet harsh effects

Of course with a bad credit report, it will be hard for you to take out another loan. And that means any other type of loan. Any individual who has filed for bankruptcy are outright seen as huge risks for any financial institution. No matter how much assets you are able to amass after the initial bankruptcy scenario, it will have no bearing.

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