Companies are, in general, sympathetic towards customers who admit they are struggling with debt. Bad debt is costly to a company and they would rather help you than let you ignore the problem, causing both parties future problems.

Step One: Work out a monthly budget plan and stick to it. Through this you will see if you have any surplus money available.

Step Two: Calculate how much you owe each creditor and what your total outstanding collective balance is. Ensure you are paying off the highest priced debts first, and working down to the lowest priced debt receiving the smallest percentage of your allocation.

Step Three: Calculate the percentage of the overall debt each creditor makes up and how much of your surplus cash they are entitled to:

=        Individual creditor's balance    x  surplus
       total collective creditor's balance

This will show you the difference between what you can afford to pay and the contractual minimum which you are currently paying.

Step Four:  Draw up a financial statement which includes your monthly budget plan and the breakdown of how your surplus could be divided up for each outstanding creditor.

Step Five: Send a copy of this financial statement to each of your creditors. Detail the circumstances and reasons for non-payment. Ask for the interest on the account to be frozen and the charges to be stopped, and return the card cut up as a gesture of goodwill as evidence of how you plan to stop adding to your existing debt. Ideally the creditors will accept this agreement for a period of time, perhaps six months, allowing you to reduce your outgoings in other areas. If your offers are not accepted contact your Citizens Advice Bureau and student financial advisor for more help. For more help the following websites may also be able to assist you: cccs.co.uk , nationaldebtline.co.uk and m-a-a.org.uk .