about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic b

Many people in the media have been commenting over the last year that it’s far too easy for people to get credit and that the responsibility lies with the lenders for lending the money irresponsibly. There may be some valid truth to that, because of the low interest rates of late, many people have been taking on debts that perhaps they shouldn’t. The repayments have looked low because of the relatively cheap cost of borrowing at the moment.

So you’ve now got your high definition wide screen TV, you’ve had your exotic holiday; you’ve bought that new console for the kids. You’ve borrowed money because it was cheap to do so, and we live in a world where everyone is saying it’s ok, that money does indeed grow on trees and that it’s ok to spend on a credit card to your limit, it’s ok to get another loan.

There was a song by Shania Twain called Ka-ching and whether you like the country tones of Eilleen Edwards (Shania’s real name) or not, the point of the song is valid.

“We live in a greedy little world--
That teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
Then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We’ve created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don’t possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So its shoppin’ every Sunday at the mall.”

Ka-ching – Shania Twain

The whole song is a almost a hymn to our current religion of consumerism. It’s a way of life now and we’ve got the responsible half of the media telling us to only borrow money wisely, but we’ve got the other half of the media telling us that borrowing money is fine. Which philosophy you ascribe to is up to you however you have to however if you ascribe to the buy now, spend now, don’t worry about it, chances are there will be a crunch time.

When you’ve borrowed more than you can afford to borrow, and the repayments are higher than you can realistically afford to repay. What do you do then? You can get upset, you could even rant on about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic b

u’ve had your exotic holiday; you’ve bought that new console for the kids. You’ve borrowed money because it was cheap to do so, and we live in a world where everyone is saying it’s ok, that money does indeed grow on trees and that it’s ok to spend on a credit card to your limit, it’s ok to get another loan.

There was a song by Shania Twain called Ka-ching and whether you like the country tones of Eilleen Edwards (Shania’s real name) or not, the point of the song is valid.

“We live in a greedy little world--
That teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
Then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We’ve created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don’t possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So its shoppin’ every Sunday at the mall.”

Ka-ching – Shania Twain

The whole song is a almost a hymn to our current religion of consumerism. It’s a way of life now and we’ve got the responsible half of the media telling us to only borrow money wisely, but we’ve got the other half of the media telling us that borrowing money is fine. Which philosophy you ascribe to is up to you however you have to however if you ascribe to the buy now, spend now, don’t worry about it, chances are there will be a crunch time.

When you’ve borrowed more than you can afford to borrow, and the repayments are higher than you can realistically afford to repay. What do you do then? You can get upset, you could even rant on about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic b

eedy little world--
That teaches every little boy and girl
To earn as much as they can possibly--
Then turn around and
Spend it foolishly
We’ve created us a credit card mess
We spend the money we don’t possess
Our religion is to go and blow it all
So its shoppin’ every Sunday at the mall.”

Ka-ching – Shania Twain

The whole song is a almost a hymn to our current religion of consumerism. It’s a way of life now and we’ve got the responsible half of the media telling us to only borrow money wisely, but we’ve got the other half of the media telling us that borrowing money is fine. Which philosophy you ascribe to is up to you however you have to however if you ascribe to the buy now, spend now, don’t worry about it, chances are there will be a crunch time.

When you’ve borrowed more than you can afford to borrow, and the repayments are higher than you can realistically afford to repay. What do you do then? You can get upset, you could even rant on about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic b

e media telling us to only borrow money wisely, but we’ve got the other half of the media telling us that borrowing money is fine. Which philosophy you ascribe to is up to you however you have to however if you ascribe to the buy now, spend now, don’t worry about it, chances are there will be a crunch time.

When you’ve borrowed more than you can afford to borrow, and the repayments are higher than you can realistically afford to repay. What do you do then? You can get upset, you could even rant on about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic b

about how the banks shouldn’t have lent you the money. You could stop opening the threatening letters and bury your head in the sand but none of those things will change the situation.

You could consolidate your debts into one big monthly loan like one of those adverts on TV says to and you’ll be enjoying picnics in the park with your family like those people on TV do in no time. Sort out your debt worries by potentially taking on more debt. There does seem to be something wrong with that logic but I can’t deny that it works well for some people. Or you could take some personal responsibility, say to yourself that no one forced you to take out the loans and that it was you that spent the money freely but that you want to sort it out and admit that there’s a problem. That is usually the hardest step.

Once you’ve reached that moment, that single moment of clarity, things can actually get a little easier as you’re able to properly look at your situation and seek help. One potential solution if you’ve got a higher level of debt could be an IVA. There’s a lot of information about IVA on the internet and I have to confess that not all of it is accurate. In fact, I would go as far as to say that there is a lot of misinformation.

For example; you’ll see adverts telling you that taking an IVA will write off 75% of your debt. I’ve even seen a couple that claim 80%. The 75% figure is highly unlikely, the 80% figure is nothing short of a lie. IVA is a binding legal agreement between you and your creditors and last for 5 years. At the end of those 5 years, you will be free of unsecured debts, however, during that time, you will be making repayments, however they will not be unreasonable. If you literally can’t afford anything, then potentially you could wipe out 75% of your debts, however it is very unlikely that you can’t afford to pay back anything and the 80% figure bandied about is impossible under the current legislation.

In some cases, the term of the IVA may require you to sell your home to release any equity you have in it to increase the offer to your creditors. This however doesn’t always happen. The terms of an IVA are completely individual and it should only be considered if you have over ?10,000 worth of debt.

For more information on IVA then visit us at consolidateuk.com where we’re very honest about it, the pros and cons. We don’t make impossible promises but we can give you the information you need to make an informed decision on how you can sort out your debt p