Debt Management For Parents

Three chunks of parents have debts in the form of loans, credit card debts and overdrafts, according to 'Families and the credit crunch 2008', a report released in November by the Family and Parenting Institute, based on a YouGov check of more than 5,000 parents.

The average debt, apparently, is £8,400, but parents don't just owe money to companies - according to the survey, a full 25% have borrowed money from (or been given money by) their own parents in the last year.

Against a backdrop of record personal debt, parents are particularly worried about paying the heating bills (47%), paying the rent or mortgage (36%) and paying the food bills (31%).

Mary MacLeod, Chief Executive of the Family and Parenting Institute: "Families up and down the country are finding it hard to balance their budgets. Many also have a heavy burden of debt.

"With today's high cost of living, record levels of debt and worries about the nation's economic health," said a spokesperson for Debt Advisers Direct, "it's no surprise we're hearing such gloomy answers to surveys like this.

"There may, however, be debt solutions which could help some parents reduce their monthly expenditure. A debt consolidation loan, debt management plan or IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangement), for example, could help them bring their expenditure back in line with their income."

Even though debt consolidation, debt management and IVAs all address unsecured debts (unsecured loans, overdrafts, credit cards, etc.), they can nonetheless help people keep up with payments to their secured debts (mortgage, secured loans, etc.).

With debt consolidation, for example, people basically pay off their existing unsecured debts by taking out a single new loan large enough to pay them all off in one go.

With IVAs and professional debt management plans, the borrower asks debt experts to negotiate with their creditors, asking them to accept lower, affordable payments.
IVAs and professional debt management plans are very different debt solutions, but they do have similarities: if the creditors accept the terms, the individual will agree to pay as much as they can (i.e. their entire disposable income) every