Three steps and they are all free. Write down every balance you owe, including money owed to people, and total it. Ring StepChange on 0800 138 1111, Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm. Then pay priority debts first, which means rent, mortgage, council tax, energy and court fines come before any card or app that is writing to you. Do them in that order and nothing else today.
The total is not the urgent part
Most people arrive here paralysed by one number, and the number is usually not what needs attention.
What is genuinely urgent is arrears on the things that carry serious consequences, and stopping the total from growing. The size of the figure decides how long the plan takes. It does not decide what you do this week, and it is not the thing to be frightened of.
Somebody who does this professionally will convert your total into a monthly figure and a length of time, usually inside one phone call. That conversion is the thing that makes it bearable, and it is available for nothing.
Step one, write down the real number
Forty minutes, alone, with a pen. Do it before you ring anybody, because advisers work much faster from a real list.
- **Every account and card.** Current accounts and overdrafts, every credit card, every store card, every loan, every catalogue account. Write the outstanding balance, not the minimum payment.
- **Every buy now pay later plan**, across every provider including the one you used once. This is where nearly everybody is wrong about themselves, because no screen anywhere adds them up. [There is a method for this part](/guides/spending/buy-now-pay-later-and-the-blur).
- **Every arrear.** Rent, mortgage, council tax, gas, electricity, water, court fines, tax. Even if the amount is small, write it down, because these change the priority order.
- **Money owed to people.** Your brother, the friend who was told it was for something else. These get left off and they are the ones that hurt later.
- **Two totals at the bottom.** What you owe altogether, and what has to leave your account every month to service it.
Then stop. Do not start budgeting tonight.
Step two, ring a free adviser
**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 anything that advertises. A large share of what appears in a search for debt help is a commercial product, and paying for an arrangement you could have had free takes money out of the pile that should be clearing the debt.
Tell them the truth about where the money went. Compulsive spending is not a shocking disclosure to a debt adviser, they hear it constantly, and it sometimes changes the options they put in front of you.
Ask them three things specifically. What order should I pay in. What formal options do I qualify for. And, if you are in England or Wales, would Breathing Space help.
Step three, pay the quiet debts before the loud ones
This is the part almost nobody gets right on their own, and it is the highest-value paragraph on this page.
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 that you need to work out which of your debts are priority debts and deal with them first.
| Deal with these first | Deal with these after | |---|---| | Rent arrears | Credit cards | | Mortgage or secured loan arrears | Catalogue debts | | Council tax arrears | Unsecured loans, including payday loans | | Gas or electricity bills | Unpaid water bills | | Court fines | Benefit overpayments, other than tax credits | | Unpaid income tax, National Insurance or VAT | Parking penalties | | Overpaid tax credits | Money owed to family or friends | | Hire purchase or conditional sale on goods you need | |
Now look at which of your debts are actually contacting you. It will be the right-hand column, because those are the ones with marketing departments. The council tax arrears sit in silence and carry the heavier consequences.
So the letter shouting at you is usually not the debt to pay. Pay the quiet ones. Deal with the loud ones through the adviser.
Breathing Space, accurately
If you live in England or Wales, GOV.UK says ["you can get temporary protection from your creditors while you get debt advice and make a plan"](https://www.gov.uk/options-for-paying-off-your-debts/breathing-space), for "up to 60 days".
Three corrections to what people believe about it.
**England and Wales only.** Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate arrangements, which an adviser will know.
**You cannot apply yourself.** GOV.UK is explicit: "To apply for the 'Breathing Space' scheme, you need to talk to a debt adviser. They will submit an application on your behalf if it's the right thing to do."
**It is a pause, not a write-off.** Enforcement stops, creditors cannot contact you about the included debts and cannot add interest or charges, and GOV.UK still says "you'll still need to make your debt repayments."
The thing that makes any plan fail
A repayment plan with a leak in it is not a plan.
If the spending is still happening, the debt will rebuild underneath the repayments and you will conclude, wrongly, that you are hopeless with money. Do the obstacles at the same time as the debt work, not afterwards. Saved cards deleted, apps removed with the accounts kept, marketing off, a waiting rule with a number in it. [The full list is here](/guides/spending/putting-friction-between-you-and-checkout).
The other common leak is a plan with no room in it. A repayment schedule that leaves you nothing at all for a haircut or a coffee tends to collapse in week three and take a large compensatory purchase with it. Tell the adviser what you actually need to live on rather than the heroic version, because they are building something that has to survive a bad month.
Do not do these
**Do not borrow to pay a debt** before you have spoken to a free adviser.
**Do not move money away from a priority debt** to quieten a non-priority one.
**Do not ignore anything from a court, a bailiff or your local authority.** Those go to the top of the list and to the front of the phone call.
**Do not pay for debt help** you have not first checked is unavailable free.
If the total has taken you somewhere dark
Debt and shame together are heavier than either alone, and it is worth saying out loud rather than pushing through in silence.
Samaritans is **116 123**, free, any hour of the day or night, and money is one of the most common things people ring about. NHS 111 has a mental health option if you need urgent support. In immediate danger, **999**.
Telling one person the real figure changes more than people expect, and [there is a way to do it](/guides/spending/telling-someone-what-you-actually-owe) that does not turn into a month of new revelations.
Common questions
**Where do I start with debt when I do not know the total?** With the list. Forty minutes of logging in to everything, writing down each balance including money owed to people, and producing two numbers: the total and the monthly figure. Everything else, including the phone call, works better with that in front of you.
**Which debts should I pay first?** Priority debts, which Citizens Advice defines as the ones that cause particularly serious problems if ignored: rent, mortgage, council tax, energy, court fines, tax and hire purchase on goods you need. Credit cards, overdrafts, catalogue debts and buy now pay later are non-priority regardless of how they are writing to you.
**Is free debt advice as good as paid?** It is the same advice. StepChange is a charity offering free, impartial advice, and it can access the same formal options a commercial firm would charge you for. Ring the charity first.
**Can I stop the interest while I sort this out?** In England and Wales, Breathing Space pauses interest, charges and enforcement on included debts for up to 60 days, but only a debt adviser can apply for it on your behalf, and it does not cancel what you owe. Ask about it on the call.
**What if I cannot face phoning anybody?** Then write the list first, which is a job you can do alone, and use a charity's online tools to get started. The phone call is easier once the number exists, and it stops being the frightening part once somebody else is holding it too.
Sources
- [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/). The definition of priority debts, and the full priority and non-priority lists.
- [GOV.UK, Breathing Space (Debt Respite Scheme)](https://www.gov.uk/options-for-paying-off-your-debts/breathing-space). England and Wales only, up to 60 days, applied for through a debt adviser, and that repayments are still owed.
- [StepChange Debt Charity](https://www.stepchange.org/). Free and impartial debt advice.
