Ring StepChange first, on 0800 138 1111, because free regulated debt advice is the part with the most immediate consequences. Then pick a group for the behaviour, which is a different problem with a different answer. SMART Recovery UK fits most people who overspend. Debtors Anonymous fits people whose issue is borrowing specifically, and it is worth knowing that before you go.
They are not doing the same job
The confusion here is understandable and it costs people months.
Debt advice deals with what you owe: the arrears, the priority order, the arrangement with creditors, the formal options. It is a technical process performed by trained advisers and in the UK it is available free.
A fellowship or a mutual aid group deals with what you do: the buying, the hiding, the fortnightly collapse. No amount of it renegotiates a council tax arrear.
You will very likely need both. Doing them in the wrong order is survivable. Doing only the second one while the first is on fire is not.
Free debt advice, and only free
**StepChange** is a debt charity and its advice is free and impartial: 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm.
Ring a charity before you ring anything that advertises. A large share of what appears when you search for debt help is a commercial product, and some of it charges for arrangements available for nothing.
Two things an adviser does that you cannot do alone. They will tell you the right order to pay in. Citizens Advice explains that ["priority debts" are debts that can cause you particularly serious problems if you don't do anything about them](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-your-debts/work-out-which-debts-to-deal-with-first/), and rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and court fines sit ahead of every credit card and buy now pay later plan sending you letters.
And in England and Wales they can apply for [Breathing Space](https://www.gov.uk/options-for-paying-off-your-debts/breathing-space) on your behalf, which gives "temporary protection for up to 60 days". You cannot apply for it yourself: GOV.UK is explicit that "you need to talk to a debt adviser", and it never writes the debt off, since "you'll still need to make your debt repayments."
Before you ring, write down every balance including money owed to people, and the monthly figure across all of it. Advisers work far faster with a real list. [The method is here](/guides/spending/facing-the-debt-a-first-plan).
SMART Recovery UK, the usual best fit
[SMART Recovery UK](https://smartrecovery.org.uk/) is a registered charity running free mutual aid meetings, face to face and online, "grounded in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)", supporting "people with substance dependencies or problem behaviours". 0330 053 6022.
Two reasons it tends to suit spending better than the alternatives.
It is scoped to problem behaviours rather than to substances, so nobody has to decide whether shopping counts. And its model does not require abstinence from the thing, which matters here more than anywhere else, because you cannot abstain from money. You have to keep using it, every day, in the presence of the trigger. A framework built around never touching it again does not describe a life anybody can live.
Meetings are facilitated rather than sponsor-led, and it is secular.
Debtors Anonymous, with the caveat stated plainly
[Debtors Anonymous UK](https://debtorsanonymous.org.uk/) is "a Twelve Step programme for anyone who wants to stop incurring unsecured debt", and it says that "recovery from compulsive debting begins when we stop incurring new, unsecured debt, one day at a time."
Read that carefully, because it defines who it is for. The abstinence is from new unsecured borrowing, not from spending.
**If you are borrowing to buy**, on cards, overdrafts, loans or instalment plans, DA is describing your problem precisely and the fit is good. It is free, it runs meetings, and its members deal with exactly this.
**If you are overspending a salary without borrowing**, the core practice does not map onto what you do. You can still get something from the rooms, and plenty of people do, and you should go in knowing that the central commitment is not aimed at your behaviour.
We could not find a UK fellowship dedicated to shopping itself, and searches for one turn up nothing that exists in this country. Saying so is more useful than sending you looking.
Where a private therapist fits
Some people want one-to-one work rather than a room, and that is a reasonable choice.
Two cautions. Counsellor and psychotherapist are not protected titles in the UK, so anybody can use them. The [Professional Standards Authority](https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/practitioners/psychotherapist) is straightforward about it: psychotherapists "are not regulated by law, but can choose to join an Accredited Register." Check for membership of an accredited register before you pay anybody.
And be wary of anything that packages debt advice with therapy for a fee. The debt advice half is available free from a charity, and paying for it does not make it better.
Which to ring, in one paragraph
If there are arrears on rent, mortgage, council tax or energy, ring StepChange today and do everything else afterwards. If the debt is on cards and instalment plans and nothing is in arrears, ring StepChange this week and go to a SMART Recovery meeting in the meantime. If your problem is specifically that you keep borrowing, add Debtors Anonymous. If none of it is debt and all of it is behaviour, SMART Recovery and [the friction work](/guides/spending/putting-friction-between-you-and-checkout) are your two.
None of these require you to have stopped first, and none of them will be surprised by your number.
If the money has taken you somewhere dark, Samaritans is **116 123**, free, any hour, and NHS 111 has a mental health option. In immediate danger, **999**.
Some people find it easier to keep the log, the risky hours and the person they message in one place, which is what [the recovery side of Renovyn](/my-recovery) is for. It tracks and it nudges. It is not treatment and it is not a substitute for the call to StepChange.
Common questions
**Is there a Shopaholics Anonymous in the UK?** We could not find a UK fellowship specifically for shopping. Debtors Anonymous UK is the nearest twelve step option, though its abstinence is defined as not incurring new unsecured debt. SMART Recovery UK covers problem behaviours generally and runs free meetings online and in person.
**Is StepChange actually free?** Yes. It is a debt charity and its advice is free and impartial, on 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm. Free advice is the same advice as the paid kind, without the fee, which is why it is worth ringing a charity before anything that advertises.
**Does Debtors Anonymous work if I am not borrowing?** It might, and it is not aimed at you. DA's daily commitment is to stop incurring new unsecured debt, so if your spending comes out of wages rather than credit, the central practice does not map cleanly onto your behaviour.
**Do I need a diagnosis to get support?** No, and there is not one to get. Compulsive buying is not a formal diagnosis in DSM-5 or ICD-11. None of the routes above asks for one, and neither StepChange nor SMART Recovery requires anything other than that you turn up.
**Should I pay for a debt management company?** Not before speaking to a free charity, because much of what a commercial firm offers is available for nothing and the fee comes out of money that could be paying the debt.
Sources
- [StepChange Debt Charity](https://www.stepchange.org/). Free and impartial debt advice.
- [Citizens Advice, Work out which debts to deal with first](https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/help-with-debt/dealing-with-your-debts/work-out-which-debts-to-deal-with-first/). What a priority debt is and which debts come first.
- [Debtors Anonymous UK](https://debtorsanonymous.org.uk/). The twelve step programme for people who want to stop incurring unsecured debt, and how it defines recovery.
- [SMART Recovery UK](https://smartrecovery.org.uk/). Free meetings grounded in cognitive behavioural therapy, covering problem behaviours as well as substance dependencies.
