Five Ways to Avoid Credit Card Debt
By Mr Bankruptcy
28th September 2023
According to debt charities, outstanding credit card debt reached £66.4 billion, an increase of 8.2% (£5.0 billion) in the year to June 2023. This means that credit card debt averaged £1,248 for every adult in the UK.
But with interest rates still high and with no immediate sign of coming down any time soon, it’s more important that ever to avoid piling up credit card debt. In this blog post we look at some of the ways you can keep control of your credit card and make sure it works for you – not the other way around.
How to avoid credit card debt – 5 steps
- Create a budget: Understanding your income and outgoing expenses and creating a budget in which you aren’t spending more than you earn will help you avoid the need to put ordinary living expenses on your credit card. A budget provides the information you need to set spending goals, know where money is being spent unnecessarily and ensure that you have enough left at the end of each month to avoid the need to use credit.
- Avoid unnecessary spending: Understanding where your money is going enables you to take greater control of it. You may be surprised at just how much you are spending on items that you could go without or where there are opportunities to spend less than you do by making a few simple changes to your spending habits.
- Pay your credit card bill on time: The charge for missing credit card payments can be substantial and will lead to the debt on your card increasing without you even using it, so meet your minimum payment at least.
- Build a savings pot: A savings pot is great for those unexpected costs and gives you that extra financial buffer that means when you need a bit extra, you aren’t relying on your credit cards to see you through. When times are challenging financially it seems difficult to put money aside for savings, but even if it’s just a little bit each month, regularly saving is a great habit to develop and it could save you money in the long run.
- Pay off your credit card bill each month: Paying off the balance of your credit card each month is another good habit to get into. It’s far easier to keep on top of your credit card debt when it’s cleared monthly, and it prevents debt from slowly building from month to month until it gets to the point when it becomes impossible to pay.
So, keeping an eye on your spending and creating good money management habits should go a long way to ensuring that you stay in control of your finances and help you avoid the need to reach for the credit card unless you really need it.
James Rosa Associates
James Rosa associates is a firm of debt advisors and debt adjustors. Our team offers clients a full range of advice and professional services, all delivered with a supportive and friendly approach, to private individuals or business owners and directors wanting to tackle unmanageable debt from whatever cause. We also help people and businesses involved in a civil or commercial dispute. Our services include:
James Rosa Associates is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN665061) to work with clients to produce bespoke solutions to fit their specific circumstances.
Find out if you qualify for a free consultation
If you want to deal with an unmanageable debt, or bring a dispute to a swift and cost-effective resolution, then contact James Rosa Associates today, ring 0845 6807217 or email enquiries@jamesrosa.co.uk and we can discuss whether you qualify for a free consultation.
Top 10 financial management tips for business
By Mr Bankruptcy
18th September 2023
Financial management is the planning, organising, monitoring, and controlling of financial resources so your business can achieve its goals. By understanding what your business is earning and spending it will offer financial insights so that you can plan more effectively, make better use of resources, improve competitiveness and become more profitable.
Top 10 tips to improving financial management
From years of experience helping business owners and managers to deal with unmanageable debt, here are the top measures we’ve seen clients use to take back control of their financial liabilities.
- Have a business plan: This should focus on what you want your business to achieve and the financial cost in order to have a clear path to how you will accomplish your goals.
- Examine your finances: Monitoring your business cashflow is essential. Understanding outgoing and sales and how much stock you retain will give you a deeper understating of what’s happening within your business. This will give you the data to make adjustments when needed so that you can be more proactive.
- Maintain good financial records: This means they need to be accurate and updated regularly to ensure the decisions based on them are sound.
- Manage credit control: Have clear payments requirements in place, ensure invoices are raised quickly, are being paid on time and, if not, follow up for payment promptly and effectively.
- Understand your business costs: Have a clear understanding of what it costs to run your business on a daily basis. Control overhead costs as these can be expensive and need to be managed. Look for opportunities to drive efficiencies and reduce costs by managing suppliers, reducing waste and unnecessary spending.
- Pay your taxes on time: Ensure taxes are paid on time to prevent incurring additional interest or penalties so you end up paying more than necessary.
- Manage stock levels: If you have too much stock, valuable capital is being tied up that could be made available to invest elsewhere.
- Choose credit carefully: When looking for additional financial support, be mindful of what it would be needed for and for how long. Not all credit options will be suitable for every situation and it could end up costing you more than it’s worth.
- Keep personal finances separate: Ensure that you are clear on what’s happening financially in your personal and business worlds by keeping personal and business finances separate; they can be tricky to untangle and can give you a false idea of your business and private financial situations.
- Consult financial experts: When struggling to control your business finances, seek expert advice quickly to enable you to get back on the right path before issues escalate.
James Rosa Associates
James Rosa associates is a firm of debt advisors and debt adjustors. With a supportive and friendly approach, we offer a full range of advice and professional services to business owners/directors and to individuals facing unmanageable debt or who are involved in civil or commercial disputes. Our services include:
We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN665061) to work with clients to produce bespoke solutions to fit their specific circumstances.
Find out if you qualify for a free consultation
If you want to deal with an unmanageable debt, or bring a dispute to a swift and cost-effective resolution, contact James Rosa Associates, ring 0845 6807217 or email enquiries@jamesrosa.co.uk to find out whether you qualify for a free consultation.