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Where to get free debt advice

lovemoney staff
by Lovemoney Staff lovemoney staff on 01 January 2013  |  Comments 2 comments

Debt advice doesn't have to cost you. Here, we highlight nine of the most useful debt services - all of which are absolutely free.

Where to get free debt advice

Facing up to your debts can be scary and it can be difficult. And when you’ve got bills continuously landing on your doormat, it can seem far easier to simply try to forget about them and pretend that everything will be OK.

But if you find you’re constantly shoving your bills in a drawer, hoping that you'll never have to pay them, you really need to start thinking about getting help.

If you're one of the many people struggling with debt, there are plenty of places to turn to for advice – you really don’t need to keep burying your head in the sand and hoping the problem will go away by itself. You also don't need to think you have to solve your debt problems on your own.

There are people out there who will be able to help you – and the best bit is, this advice is free. 

Sadly, however, there are a number of 'lookalike' debt help websites out there that could charge people for advice instead. So to help you know where you can turn for excellent, free debt advice, here are nine of the best places.

Advice in person

We'll start by looking at the charities that offer advice in person.

Citizens Advice

Many of us are probably familiar with Citizens Advice which provides free, confidential and independent advice from over 3,000 locations including in bureaux, GP surgeries, hospitals, colleges, prisons, and courts. Every Citizens Advice Bureau is a registered charity which relies on trained volunteers.

Advice is available over the phone or face-to-face, and it’s also possible to arrange home visits and email advice in some cases.

The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their debt, benefits, housing, legal, discrimination, employment, immigration, consumer and other problems and is available to everyone regardless of race, gender, sexuality, age, nationality, disability or religion.

For debt advice, you can check out the Citizens Advice advice guide. This page will also help you to find your local Citizens Advice bureau.

Advice UK

Advice UK operates a network of free, independent advice centres. It has a membership of almost 1,000 organisations, and its members work in some of the poorest parts of the UK, helping people to solve legal and social welfare problems.

To find your nearest member agency, visit the AdviceUK website or call 0300 777 0107.

Christians Against Poverty

Finally, Christians Against Poverty is a national debt counselling charity, boasting 190 centres based in churches across the country.

The charity offers home visits if you live in a postcode covered by one of its debt centres, budgeting assistance and if necessary will help you select the right insolvency option (for example, filing for bankruptcy) for you.

You can contact a debt centre on 0800 328 0006, email them on referrals@capuk.org or fill in the form on this page. 

This is not a charity just for Christians either – they help anyone, regardless of race or belief.

Over the phone or online

Not everybody wants to discuss their debt issues in person though. The following groups offer their debt advice over the phone or online, so if you don't want to discuss your debt face-to-face, these are the organsations to consider.

StepChange

StepChange (formerly the Consumer Credit Counselling Service or CCCS for short) is a registered charity providing free, impartial debt advice.

The StepChange helpline is open 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 3pm Saturday on 0800 138 1111, or you can visit its online debt counselling service, Debt Remedy, anytime day or night.

If you’re worried about your finances, StepChange Debt Remedy can help to provide you with the most appropriate solution, whether this is a debt management plan, debt relief order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement, or bankruptcy.

The online service asks a series of questions about your household, income and expenditure, and then you’ll be provided with a Debt Remedy tailored to your personal circumstances. This process will take 20 minutes and you don’t need to provide your name – and of course it’s free.

What’s more, StepChange contributes every week to our Dealing With Debt blog. So don’t forget to check it out.

The National Debtline

The National Debtline is a national helpline offering debt advice for people living in different parts of the country. Because the law regarding debt differs depending on whether you live in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, you can be reassured you’ll be receiving advice specifically targeted to you.

You can call National Debtline on 0808 808 4000 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and 9.30am to 1pm Saturdays. You can also use this web page to email.

The service provides self-help advice to its callers and also produces written self-help packs and fact sheets. It also offers advice with the setting up of debt management plans and debt relief orders.

Community Legal Advice

If you qualify for legal aid and live in England or Wales, Community Legal Advice can provide free help or legal advice over the phone for problems with debt, housing, employment, education and welfare benefits and tax credits.

You can get free, confidential advice by calling 0845 345 4 345. However, as calls cost from 4p/minute, you might prefer to use their call back service. 

Payplan

Payplan offers free advice to people living in the UK on debt and budgeting. This includes free debt management plans and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) without upfront fees.

You can call Payplan free on 0800 280 2816 (or 0207 760 8980 from a mobile) or use its online Debt Help Form which offers a quick and easy way to get free debt advice from experienced professionals. The form should only take about five minutes to complete.

Shelter

Shelter offers free confidential advice on housing, debt, welfare benefits, care and health needs (including disability rights and entitlements).

If you live in England, you can call the housing advice helpline on 0808 800 4444. Phone lines are open 8am-8pm Monday to Friday, and 8am-5pm Saturday to Sunday. Calls are free from UK landlines and most mobiles.

You can call the same number if you live in Scotland, but phone lines are only open 9am-5pm Monday to Friday.

If you live in Wales, you need to call 0845 075 5005. Lines are open 9.30am-4.30pm Monday to Friday.

There is no direct service in Northern Ireland but you can find a list of useful phone numbers on the charity's website.

Q&A on lovemoney.com

Here at lovemoney.com, we offer a Q&A service where you can ask a question of the extremely knowledgeable lovemoney.com community (which includes debt charity the CCCS), and get an answer, totally free.

It's easy to ask a question, and you can do so anonymously because it's all online. So if you have a debt issue that's troubling you, why not head over to Q&A and tap into the collective knowledge of the entire lovemoney.com community?

Final tips

Hopefully, this has given you a good idea of where you can turn to for free debt advice. There are other places that offer advice, but many of these places will charge you for the privilege and you could end up even further in debt.

Your bank may also offer you debt counselling, but it’s likely that you’ll have to pay for this.

But whatever you do, remember help is out there. Don’t bury your head in the sand and hope your debt problems will go away by themselves – because they won’t. It can be hard to face up to your debt, but hang in there and remember that you’re not alone.

Good luck.

This is a classic article that has been updated

More debt help

How do I get out of debt?

The first step to becoming debt free

Ten money mistakes to avoid

Debt: don't trust this devious offer of help

The secret to getting your priorities right

 

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Comments (2)

  • OorWullie
    Love rating 38
    OorWullie said

    I am on both a company and a State pension and have been for 24 years during which time the amount of money has increased but its value has decreased considerably. Until just a few months ago I was able to manage comfortably but with the government's quantitive easing programme circumstances have changed and to such an extent that I am having difficulty at managing to budget.

    The change which has recently affected me is both considerable and penal and it must equally affect others yet I have not heard others complaining. I have an outstanding credit card debt which until lately I could contribute between £500 to £700 monthly and still live comfortably; in other words, if I required something I could get it without counting my pennies. I am hesitant to go into detail other than to say that, currently, by the second week of each month I have spent (and I do not mean squandered) my monthly income and that is only on necessities! I am neither a drinker nor a smoker. How this government is managing to remain in office is beyond my comprehension.

    If I could get a three year loan at say 6.5% I could clear my credit card debt which would ease my situation but as I am in my 80s I am barred from getting such a loan, age being a barrier in reality; okay, statistically I can understand this concern, yet I am fit and well. While making enquiries about getting a loan I was passed from one money lender to another until I arrived at an organisation (cannot recall which) that recommended that I apply for bankruptcy and that it would help me with the process.

    Throughout my life I have used credit but never have I defaulted on repayments and I have the degree of dignity which prevents me from doing so and from choosing bankruptcy but, alternatively, if the government insists on reneging on the spirit of its policies, as has been happening since the days of Thatcherism, then one is compelled to consider the alternatives or, in other words, play the same game.

    With the implementation of the recent quantitive easing programmes the government has, in effect, shot itself on the foot. If others are affected financially in a similar manner to myself, with little money to spend, then the country is on the slippery-slope to a severe recession.

    Report on 29 July 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves
  • nosbort
    Love rating 130
    nosbort said

    @OorWullie, I fail to see how the government is responsible for you having credit card debt in the first place. If you were not paying 500-700 per month in debt repayments you would presumably be OK and you say yourself that it was fine until a couple of months ago. The sudden leap to the QE programme is inexplicable and in any case that was caused by the Labour Government. If your pensions don't cover things then think yourself lucky that you started drawing your company pension and bought the annuity before Gordon Brown stole the lot.

    Report on 02 January 2013  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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