Thursday, 1 March 2012

Options for writing off debt

By Benjamin Farlong


Over the last five years or so the number of people with debts has become one of the highest ever seen. Throughout the United Kingdom people have been badly affected by the economic downturn which has caused a large rise in the price of essential things like fuel and food. While these items among others have gone up in cost most people's income has stayed roughly the same leaving them with a deficit between what they need and what they can afford.

Fortunately people who have built up debts in recent years have options for getting rid of the debts if they can't continue to pay them at the existing rates. Which option a person should take will depend on their level of debt, their income and their valuable assets. What these options don't offer people though is a way of getting rid of their debts without paying for them at all.

One way for people to quickly get rid of their debts is to have a debt management plan put in place. This allows people to make regular agreed repayments to their creditors until the debts are completely repaid. The debtor is left with money for the things which are essential but anything after that will be allocated to their debts. In most cases the interest on the person's debt will be frozen to increase the amount of debt repaid each month.

Another common option for getting rid of debts is to seek an IVA or individual voluntary arrangement. This has to be agreed by the county court and 75% of the creditors involved but if accepted a person will pay an agreed amount of money each month over a certain period of time. After that time period has passed the remaining debt still left over is written off.

Another option which people can consider is bankruptcy. A person can petition for bankruptcy for themselves or a company can do so for them if they want to get the money back which they are owed. With bankruptcy a person's debts are written off but not before their valuable assets are sold off and they are ordered to make payments towards the debt for up to three years.




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