People are living on credit. The culture of taking out loans and improving the standard of living, which started in the twentieth century, has flourished in the twenty first century. The total amount of outstanding debt in the UK has reached ?1,148. 83% of this is in the form of mortgages and 4.9% is in the form of credit card debt. The number of people filing for bankruptcy has also increased in 2005. Over 50% Britons used credit cards and store cards for Christmas shopping.

People have no idea how they are going to repay their debt when they take out a loan or use credit cards. Initially, borrowers find it difficult to keep up with their monthly payments. Then a situation comes when they start missing out on payments. This is where the problem must be tackled otherwise the situation may lead to default or even bankruptcy. Constant harassment by creditors can be very embarrassing. It may even lead to family problems.

If you default, the lender may initiate legal proceedings against you to recover his money. In case of a secured loan, the lender may repossess your property. To avoid this, you may go for bankruptcy or debt management. Bankruptcy will discharge you from all your debt obligations. However, once you are declared bankrupt, you might not be able to take out a fresh loan for a very long time. A better option is to go for debt management. The first step is to close down all your unused credit cards accounts. After this, you can talk to your creditor and apprise him of the situation. He might come out with a solution which will help you repay your loan.

Debt management also includes debt consolidation. You can take out a loan to consolidate your debt. This will help you consolidate all your high rate outstanding loans and unpaid credit card bills into a single loan. A debt consolidation loan carries an interest rate lower than existing loans and credit card dues. There are several types of debt consolidation loans . A homeowner loan can be used to repay your existing loans. You can also use a personal loan to carry out debt consolidation.