Citizens Advice - Debt Advice - IVA

If you've completed our Debt Analyser, then you might now be considering getting some specific, individual debt advice. If the Debt Analyser's recommendation was an IVA, then completing the more detailed questionnaire to which you were directed when you completed the analyser will get you the advice you need. If our recommendation was anything else - or if you just feel you need an independent helping hand - you could do a lot worse than contact your local citizens advice bureau for debt advice (CAB).

There are more than 21,000 advisors working in citizens advice bureau in the UK - and they deal with many thousands of debt advice enquiries every year.

Citizens Advice Bureau provides some really useful debt advice web pages - you can access them here.

We'd also like to direct your attention to Citizens Advice Bureau's advice on debt management plans - and the companies that provide them. Click here and scroll down to see it. We think that a Debt Management Plan (DMP) is rarely the best solution for someone who is deeply in debt - the citizens advice page clearly spells out the positives - and the risks - of following the debt management route.

Citizens Advice Bureau also provides a range of fact sheets on debt topics, including bankruptcy advice and letters you can use to approach your creditors yourself (DIY debt management may seem daunting - but for many it can be the best route to becoming debt free). You can find all the fact sheets by clicking on this link.

CAB provides a searchable directory of local citizens advice bureaux here.

One slight word of warning - citizens advice bureau is not a single national organisation with common standards of advice. Each Citizens Advice Bureau is different and develops according to the resources it has (some get local authority support, some don't, etc). So - whilst it is difficult to think of a better source of general, free face-to-face debt advice in the UK, you should check that the advisor you are seeing has debt experience - Wikipedia has a good explanation of how the Citizens Advice Bureau movement works.

Links to related ClearDebt articles:

Bailiffs: the law and your rights
Debt Advice
Debt Advice - CCJs and Bailiffs
Citizens Advice about Final Demands
Different ways to borrow money

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