The cold winter months are typically a time when Brits think of fleeing the country for sunnier climes, often acting on impulse and purchasing a holiday on a ‘buy now, pay later’ basis by using their credit card. For many, this has become a habit and for anyone who recognises this behaviour in themselves, the habit can be a costly one.
Years of paying for holidays on credit and not clearing the balance on the credit card within a very short period after the purchase can soon see the interest racking up on the original debt, inflating the amount owed and making it more difficult to pay off. Late payment merely adds to the issue by seeing a late payment charge added to the amount owed. If this then pushes the account above the lending limit, more charges can be levied.
Not clearing the sum owed and merely adding to it when the next holiday comes around is one reason why so many families are now in serious financial trouble thanks to their personal debts. Many households are walking a financial tightrope and all it will take is an unexpected occurrence, such as a big rise in local taxes or energy prices, a loss of overtime, redundancy or maybe ill health to make the situation totally unmanageable.
What started as a dream holiday in the sun can turn into a huge nightmare over the breakfast table, as parents and couples sit down and typically row about how to get out of the financial maelstrom that they face. The situation is exacerbated when creditors start to ring constantly, to demand payment, or start sending letters threatening legal action.
The key thing is to not stick your head in the sand if you have overspent on those idyllic holidays on the beach, or thought that you could afford these pleasures, but suffered a twist of fate that means that the repayments are now unaffordable. You are not alone, with many thousands of people being in exactly the same boat. By facing up to it, you can take swift action to sort things out.
The first thing you should do is get advice, by speaking to a debt advisor. Debt Free Direct has a team of experienced and professional debt counsellors just a phone call away, who can talk to you about your various debt recovery options. This might be a Debt Management Plan, in which you create an informal agreement to pay your creditors what you can afford, or it might be an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), which is a formal, contractual agreement to pay sums to creditors and freeze the interest on the debt.
Don’t endanger your financial position because of your past holiday spending. Get yourself a passport to peace of mind by talking to a debt advisor and examining your options. Once you have unloaded your debt worries, by talking to someone who will not judge you, you can perhaps get back on track and look forward to a life in which you are managing debt, rather than allowing it to manage you.
Photo Credit: Images_of_Money
