[John Smith]

Our Advice Team can confirm that the length of your debt management plan depends on how much you pay per month. This can vary under USA debt advice guidelines.

In theory you divide your total debts into what your monthly payment is and that if the amount of months you will have to pay.

For example:
If your debts are $10,000 and you can afford $100 per month then you do the simple sum 10,000 divided by 100 = 100 months, which is 8.3 years.

If you are worried about your debts, try not to panic but do not ignore your problem. Talk to the people or organisations you owe money to and let them know that you are having problems. Most organisations will be more helpful if you approach them first.

If you have more than one outstanding debt, or have fallen behind in paying your bills, you need to work out which debts are priority debts. A priority debt is one that could have serious results if unpaid. Not paying your rent or mortgage would leave you homeless, or not paying your gas or electricity bill could leave you being cut off and taken to court. When you have decided which are priority debts, work out how much you can realistically afford to pay back.

You will need to think carefully before taking out further loans to pay off existing debts. You may end up paying back a lot more than you borrowed and the interest rates may be extremely high. Some loans can be secured against your home and you could end up losing it if you fail to make repayments. Check your income and see if there are any benefits or tax credits you are entitled to that you are not getting.

Look carefully at your spending and see if there is anything you are able to cut down on, again you can work out what are priority expenses and what things are not so necessary. You can also look at ways of reducing your outgoings, for example you could shop around for a cheaper gas or electricity provider, or look at cheaper mortgage or insurance providers. The UK debt advice Team are very targeted in their approach.