• £135m: that’s the daily increase in UK debt
• £21,457 that’s the average household debt (excluding mortgages)
• £58,280 is the average household debt (including mortgages)
• £36,822 is the typical first time buyer deposit (25%)
• £224m: the amount of interest paid in the UK each day
• 125 properties will be repossessed today
• 3,036 people are made redundant each day
• 362 people will be declared insolvent or bankrupt
• 20.8 million plastic transactions will be made today

How sobering is that?

As at the end of July 2009 total UK personal debt stood at £1.457 billion.  Birmingham, Britain’s second city have suffered more than most.  With an economy built largely on manufacturing and the car industry this was inevitable really.  The video tells how ordinary people struggle to cope with UK debt. Our home page will lead you through some of the avenues open to you, and guide you in freeing yourself from credit card debt.   We have also published some useful credit repair tips .  If you’re not a master letter writer, the UK Insolvency Helpline helpfully provide a whole host of example letters for you to personalise.

The first step is to know how bad the situation is and the only way to do that will be to get a copy of your credit report. You can get a free copy by getting in touch with one of the three credit agencies namely Equifax, Experian, and Call Credit.

If it just so happens that there is a discrepancy in your credit report to which you know has already been resolved, sending a letter and the supporting documents is all you need to fix it.

But if the credit report is correct, credit repair can only be done by paying it off so you can have an improved credit rating. It will be a good idea to talk to your creditors and ask if you can strike a deal which will allow you to pay the said amount in staggered terms.

If they agree to this, make sure that this is written on paper so you have something to hold on to if ever they decide to change their minds.

Should you have problems talking to your creditor, don’t give up and instead hire a credit repair company to act as the mediator. Talking to professionals has a lot of benefits and two of them happen to be – 1. lower payment and 2. interest terms.

Credit repair takes time and since money is constantly the issue, be ready to make certain sacrifices and decrease your expenses. If what you are making is not enough, you may have to sell off some valuables and assets.

Individuals who have outstanding loans must still be able to pay for other things like mortgage and other bills. The scenario itself is like fighting a campaign in many fronts but you have no choice because failure to miss additional payments will only make matters worse.

No one said that when you are going through credit repair, you cannot use your credit card. In fact, you can still use it just make sure you do not max it like before because your total debt compared to your total credit makes up 30% of your credit score.

Once you are able to raise your credit score, keep up the good work. At the same time, apply for either a department store credit card or a secured credit card.

Filing for bankruptcy is never an alternative with regards to credit repair. This is because it is like taking a nose dive when your record will be reserved on file for 10 years and for the duration of this time, interest rates will continue to pile up and the amount of money that you owe only grows.

The credit repair tips mentioned are easy for anyone to follow. Once you start paying off your debt, make sure you are able to do it so you can once again be in the green.

Is credit repair easy? Not really because it really depends how much you owe the creditors. Some people owe a thousand or two while for others it is quite bigger and that is quite a problem.

So analyze your situation, take the appropriate steps in credit repair by getting bad credit help and make sure this does not happen again.

Once you have all the facts at your fingertips you’ll have the best chance of negotiating your way out of trouble. Work out how much debt you are actually in and calculate your risk of house repossession. Get free credit reports from the UK’s three main credit reference agencies. And take advantage of free postcode reports, which will help you to gauge the real market value of your home and alert you to any local issues that might affect the selling price.

Here are a few links that will put you in a better position when trying to avoid repossession:

1. Free Experian credit report -Experian is one of the UK’s top credit reference agencies. This free credit report, which shows you the information that your creditors see, helps you understand and keep control of your credit status online. The service comes via Credit Expert, Experian’s credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service.

• Unlimited online access to your credit report
• See your Experian credit score
• Customer service, freephone calls
• Your credit report is delivered to you online, fast and securely
• You get unlimited real time access to your credit report

2. Free Equifax credit report -Equifax is another top UK credit reference agency. They also offer a free trial credit report service.

• A 30 day free trial with no obligation
• Expert tips to help you understand your credit report
• An online dispute facility to help you correct mistakes quickly and simply
• Comprehensive support from their customer service team
• Immediate unlimited online access to your Equifax record
• Alerts within 24 hours of any notable changes on your credit record

3. Callcredit, another UK credit reference agency

4. Pay for a credit report from all three agencies -Alternatively if you want to save time and hassle you can pay a small fee and get reports from all three UK credit reference agencies from one place; Experian, Equifax and Callcredit.

None of the UK’s 3 credit reference agencies hold your entire credit history. Lenders usually inform one agency, sometimes two, and your credit status can be rated differently by each.

Checkmyfile offers this service, but it is always a good idea to search the internet first in case there are new or better value offers out there.

5. Baines and Ernest free debt test -A thirty second free test where you complete several simple steps to identify how you could become debt free.

6. Credit reference agencies and how to correct inaccurate records -There’s plenty of good common sense advice here about credit reference agencies, how they work and how to get mistakes on your credit record put right.

7. Free postcode check -This free service lets you check any UK postcode to find out useful census information, local house prices and much more.

8. Find a suitable lender for free -Once you know your credit score, you can use it to negotiate the best loan deals. Try this useful free online tool to find which lender best matches your credit score.

9. Free credit rating score -There’s a wide choice of free, no obligation credit rating services online. Here are just a few:

• AnnualCreditReport.co.uk
• MoneyWorries.co.uk
  
• London and Country mortgages: lcplc.co.uk

10. Become Debt Free by using this debt solutions tool.