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I am currently in around 13,500 pounds worth of debt, I live in Spain but all my UK banks etc are in my parents address still. All I can afford is the minimum payment on my credit cards every month but Im getting no where fast with all the interest etc. Not sure what is the best way to go. I did miss a few payments last year so now I cant get a new credit card with 0%. Any advice please??

Hi jess

You really have two choices - continue as you are with contractual or reduced payments - or petition for bankruptcy. Given that your debts are quite low, I would recommend continuing with the repayments, perhaps by making some sacrifices in your monthly household and personal expenditure, to try and reduce the debts as much as possible over the next couple of years.

Borrowing further money is not really a sensible option, unless you are disciplined to pay off all the other debts and not use the cards again. Most people eventually revert to additional borrowings thus making their situation twice as bad, so do beware this pitfall.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

For further details contact me at http://www.melaniegiles.com and view my IVA blog at: http://melaniegiles.blogs.iva.co.uk