Yeah, the fish farm was an intriguing prospect but thank goodness you didn’t risk all. It seems as if every year you’re approached with a great new plan to make a bundle but the only financial guarantee you’ve ever trusted has been that fixed term account. It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, yet also doesn’t require any hand-holding. It does what it promises to and kindly provides you with a tax-free solution for getting more value per pound. And when you think of all the other crazy schemes, this savings account feel a good bit like coming home.

No doubt there are plenty of new-fangled ways to make money – and even more ways to lose it. But with the state of the world these days you are incredibly pleased that you didn’t turn your back on a classic. With your fixed term savings account you know it works as a steady, reliable option – and what’s more, it’s working for you. So let you brother sign up for that company selling organic fish food to failing fish farms; you’ll stick with what you know will work. She isn’t the shiniest ride on the block, but she’s a runner!

A payday loan is a loan that is offered by an independent provider, not by a bank or traditional lender. This makes them very attractive for a couple of different reasons. First, there is very little paperwork involved with a payday loan, and bad credit is not a problem. If you wanted a normal, traditional type of loan you would find that you’d have a huge pile of paperwork to sort through to even get considered. And that consideration would only happen if you had credit scores that were attractive to the lender – good luck there.

Payday loans are meant to be short term solution that eliminate the hassles in getting money as you need it. The paperwork is minimal to none – you can actually apply online, and complete a simple form in many cases. Better still, you are going to get this money right away – in just a couple hours more often than not. A bank loan is going to take weeks or more -so what are you waiting for?

If hassles are the things that are keeping you from getting the money you want to get by more comfortably, you can pitch the banks to the gutter and take a better look at payday loans. 

An IVA is an Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It’s a formal insolvency procedure that can help people who’ve ended up in a situation where they can’t afford to repay their unsecured debts.

It’s often seen as an alternative to bankruptcy, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy option. It takes a lot of commitment to make an IVA succeed, since most IVAs require regular monthly payments for around 5 years. Plus, like any form of insolvency, it’ll seriously affect someone’s credit rating.

Having said that, it’s well worth making sure an IVA succeeds. If the individual can make all the payments they’ve agreed to make (which might involve releasing equity from property they own), their creditors will write off all outstanding unsecured debt at the end of it.

But IVAs aren’t available to just anyone. To be eligible for an IVA, a borrower would have to have quite a lot of debt that they can’t afford to repay. They’d also have to live in England, Northern Ireland or Wales – someone who lives in Scotland wouldn’t be able to enter an IVA, although they may be eligible for a Protected Trust Deed (which is similar to an IVA in many ways).

For an IVA to go ahead, the individual would have to talk to an IP (Insolvency Practitioner). If that IP believes an IVA is the best way for that person to tackle their debt problems, they’ll draw up an ‘IVA Proposal’, which basically lays down how they think the IVA could work – in a way that they expect both borrower and lenders will be able to agree to.

If the IVA’s to go ahead, that proposal would then have to be accepted by enough of the creditors – by 75% or more of them by debt value, which means lenders who (between them) are responsible for at least 75% of the individual’s unsecured debt.

If enough of them do accept, the IVA can start. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll succeed, though – to make that happen, the individual will have to stay committed to it all the way through (for 5 years, in most cases) and make sure they make their payments. If they run into any problems doing that, they’ll need to talk to their IP and find out what they recommend.

Speak to your Lender

Its vital that you speak to your lender as soon as you realise there is a problem.  If you can show them your income and regular outgoings they may be willing to negotiate a repayment plan – after all, getting the money back slower is better than not getting it back at all!

The lender may be willing to give you a payment holiday, where you do not need to make any payments for 3 months – hopefully enough time to find another job and get back on track.

Can the Government help?

Depending on circumstances, you may be entitled to unemployment benefit or housing benefit.

Do you have Insurance?

If your money problems stem from losing your job, you may mind that you have mortgage payment protection – you should check this with your bank. If you have debt with loans or credit cards, again they may be covered by payment protection that you don’t even know you have. A lot of credit cards come with Payment Protection as standard for a few pounds a month – many people end up needing it, and don’t realise they have been paying for it all along.

Debt collection agencies have to follow stringent government rules that prohibit them from using certain abusive practices. If they fail to adhere to these laws, it may result in filing of lawsuits against them or some government regulatory actions on them.

Depending on how much you are in debt, a second job would only need to be a temporary thing. It might be a little hard, but it would be well worth the peace of mind and freedom that you’d achieve in the long run. And, if your current income isn’t enough to pay off your debts, then it might be the only option that you have.

Many people have already found another job to supplement their income so that they have enough to eliminate bills. While some people need instant gratification and will pay off the smallest debts first, others decide they want to get rid of the largest ones first.

The choice is up to you in which ones you want to work on eliminating first. But, the wisest choice is to eliminate the debts which have the highest interest as quickly as you can. While you might feel more of a sense of accomplishment by eliminating a small balance, you might save hundreds of dollars by eliminating excessive interest fees.

When teaching a child about money it is important to lead by example. Leading by example allows the child to see that you, the role model looks towards using money for items which are required within the budget, not for items that are spent on a whim. So, think about this the next time that you whip out to pay for an expensive purchase that you will be paying for months down the road.

One of the most important things to learn when trying to teach the child about money is that debt and income and spending should all be approached in a realistic manner. Teaching the child about the dangers of debt and how they should spend their money wisely and begin savings accounts.

Any money that the child receives for a gift or for an allowance should be divided and a portion of this money should be added to a savings account.