Disclaimer: Our website and publications aim to give you general information to help you make financial decisions. It is not advice, nor can it take account of your own particular circumstances. For advice with a view to making decisions about your own circumstances you should consult a financial or other professional adviser.

© The Financial Services Authority.

Getting help

The help you may need depends on your circumstances. You may need help:

  • to sort out your borrowing and get out of debt; or
  • protecting your repayments in case something goes wrong.

Help with debt

If you’re having difficulty keeping up with your payments, don’t ignore it. No matter how bad things may seem, the good news is that you can get free and expert help. If you have more than one loan and you're thinking of consolidating your borrowing – ie negotiating a new loan to repay existing loans, take care. Get expert help from specially trained advisers.

Several organisations can help you find out where you stand and your legal rights, and can arrange the help of a debt adviser to suggest a way forward to your lenders.

Don't struggle alone – get help now - see Related links.

Protecting your borrowing

Some lenders suggest you buy payment protection insurance (PPI) from them when you start a credit card or loan. PPI helps you keep up your payments on a loan or credit card, in the event you can’t work because of illness or redundancy – but only for a fixed period of time. This means that the insurance company will pay the monthly repayments (or a percentage of them) on your behalf for a set time – usually 12 or 24 months. For more information see Payment Protection Insurance.

You can compare the features and costs of PPI products using our impartial comparison tables at Compare PPI.