The UK's plain-English guide to debt

How credit card debt builds up, how minimum payments really work and the options if repayments are becoming unmanageable.

• Why minimum payments keep you in debt for longer
• When it's time to stop using a credit card
• Balance transfers: when they help and when they hurt

Understanding personal loans, the difference between secured and unsecured borrowing, and what happens when you fall behind.

• Secured vs unsecured personal loans — what actually changes
• What actually happens when you miss loan payments
• Secured vs unsecured loans: what's the difference

Short-term, high-cost credit designed to be repaid on your next payday. Rules changed in 2015 — knowing them is often the key to a refund.

• Payday loan caps and when you can claim a refund
• Payday loan affordability complaints

Why bank overdrafts have quietly become one of the most expensive ways to borrow — and what to do if you can't clear the balance.

• Why overdrafts became so expensive — and how to escape
• Getting out of a persistent overdraft

Store cards look like store loyalty programmes but are credit agreements — often with the highest APRs on the high street.

• How store cards really work
• Store cards vs credit cards: what to watch for

Mail-order and online catalogues (Very, Littlewoods, JD Williams and others) act like credit accounts — and can accumulate quickly.

• Catalogue accounts — what they really are
• Catalogue 'buy now pay later' offers explained

Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy and PayPal Pay in 3 look interest-free — but missed payments and stacking multiple BNPL agreements can cause real harm.

• The hidden risks of Buy Now Pay Later
• What happens if you miss a Buy Now Pay Later payment

A guarantor loan makes someone else jointly responsible if you can't pay. It's a serious commitment — for both of you.

• How guarantor loans work — and what happens if you fall behind
• You're the guarantor and being chased — what now

Hire Purchase (HP) and Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) agreements are secured on the vehicle. Missed payments can lead to repossession.

• HP vs PCP — the difference that matters when you fall behind
• Voluntary termination of car finance: how it works

Missed mortgage payments are a priority debt because your home is on the line. Here's how to protect it.

• Why mortgage arrears are always priority number one
• Practical options when your mortgage becomes unaffordable
• The pre-action protocol for mortgage possession

Rent arrears are a priority debt. How eviction actually works and the steps to protect your tenancy.

• How eviction actually works — the timeline
• Protecting your tenancy when arrears are building
• Section 8 vs Section 21 notices explained

Council tax is a priority debt with fast, powerful collection routes. Here's what to expect and how to negotiate.

• How council tax recovery moves so quickly
• Discounts, support and how to actually claim them
• Council tax liability orders: what they mean

HMRC has enforcement powers most other creditors don't. Understanding the process — and the flexibility that does exist — is essential.

• The powers HMRC has that other creditors don't
• Setting up a Time to Pay arrangement
• HMRC Simple Assessment and tax code debts

Energy and water are priority debts because of the risk of disconnection or forced installation of prepayment meters. Options exist — including grants.

• Falling behind on energy bills — your options
• Water arrears, WaterSure and social tariffs
• Energy debt and prepayment meters: your rights

Watching live TV or using BBC iPlayer without a licence is a criminal offence in the UK. Here's how enforcement works and who is exempt.

• TV Licence — who needs one and what happens without
• Help paying your TV Licence

Council-issued PCNs and private parking tickets follow very different rules. Knowing which you've got is the first step.

• Council PCNs vs private parking charges
• How to challenge a parking charge

Benefit overpayments can arise years after the event and be recovered from current benefits or wages. How the process works and how to challenge it.

• How benefit overpayments happen — and who pays
• How overpayments are recovered — and how to manage repayment
• Disputing a benefit overpayment

Deductions from Universal Credit for advances, overpayments, sanctions and third-party debts. Knowing the cap — and how to negotiate — matters.

• How deductions from Universal Credit really work
• Deductions from Universal Credit: the current cap

Enforcement agents (bailiffs) have strict legal powers — but also clear limits. Knowing the rules protects you.

• Your rights when a bailiff is at the door
• Vulnerability and bailiffs — the extra protections you have
• Controlled Goods Agreements explained

A CCJ is a court order confirming you owe money. It's a serious mark on your credit file — but there are ways to reduce the damage.

• What a CCJ actually means — and what it doesn't
• What to do if a CCJ has been issued wrongly
• Setting aside a CCJ: when it's possible

A charging order turns an unsecured debt into one secured on your home. It doesn't force a sale, but it changes the risk profile.

• How charging orders work
• Charging orders and the risk of an order for sale

An Attachment of Earnings Order tells your employer to deduct money from your wages to pay a judgment debt.

• Attachment of Earnings Orders — what to expect
• How an Attachment of Earnings deduction is calculated

A statutory demand is a formal warning of possible bankruptcy proceedings. It has to be taken seriously — but it's not itself bankruptcy.

• Responding to a statutory demand
• Setting aside a statutory demand

A creditor petition asks the court to make you bankrupt. It's rare — but when it happens, timing matters enormously.

• Creditor bankruptcy petitions — what happens next
• Creditor petitions vs debtor's own application

Debt collection agencies act on behalf of creditors or buy debts outright. Their powers are the same as any other unsecured creditor.

• How debt collectors actually work
• DCA vs original creditor: who actually owns the debt

What a default really is, when one can be registered and how long it stays on your credit file.

• What a default really is — and when one can be registered
• How long defaults affect you — and how to move on

How to read your credit file, what actually affects your score and how to rebuild after debt problems.

• How to check your credit file — and fix errors
• Correcting mistakes on your credit file

Joint debts remain joint until formally settled — regardless of what a divorce court decides. The distinction matters.

• Joint debts after separation — what stays with you
• Joint debts after separation

Debts are paid from the deceased person's estate. Family members are not personally liable — except in specific situations.

• Who pays debts after someone dies
• Which debts die with the person

Steps to take in the first weeks after job loss to protect your finances and stop debt problems building.

• The first steps after losing your job
• Using redundancy pay wisely

Debt and mental health are deeply linked. The UK has specific protections — including a Mental Health Breathing Space.

• Mental Health Breathing Space — how it works
• The Debt and Mental Health Evidence Form (DMHEF)

Self-employed people face specific pressures — variable income, tax bills, and the blurring of business and personal debts.

• Managing debt when your income moves each month
• Self-employed and behind on HMRC

UK student loans (Plans 1, 2, 4, 5 and Postgraduate) work like income-contingent repayment obligations rather than typical debts.

• UK student loans — how repayment really works
• When do student loans get written off

Fixed retirement income and rising living costs are combining to push more pensioners into debt. Extra support exists — and is often unclaimed.

• Managing debt in retirement
• Pension income and debt collection

Beyond the student loan, students face overdrafts, credit cards and rising rent arrears. The rules for tackling them are the same.

• Student debt beyond the student loan
• Student overdrafts after you graduate

Sole trader debts are personal debts. Limited company debts are separate — until a personal guarantee is signed.

• Sole trader vs limited company — where your personal liability really sits
• Sole trader vs limited company debts

Gambling-related debt often hides behind other borrowing. The route out is treatment and structured debt help together, not one without the other.

• Debt caused by gambling — what to do first
• Gambling blocks and self-exclusion tools

How the cost-of-living pressure is turning into debt for households that were previously coping — and the immediate steps to take.

• First steps for a household that used to cope
• The Household Support Fund and local welfare help

Identity theft can produce debts you didn't take out. There is a clear process for correcting them.

• Debt caused by identity fraud — the correction process
• CIFAS Protective Registration explained

Fee-charging 'debt help' companies, IVA-only firms and cold-call scams. How to spot the traps and where to go instead.

• How to spot a debt help scam
• Spotting fake IVA and 'write off your debt' adverts

Debts owed abroad, or by someone who has moved abroad, can still catch up with you. Enforcement rules differ.

• Overseas debts and UK enforcement
• Moving abroad with UK debts