Credit card debts continue to be the most common form of debts that consumers continue to struggle with and seek debt help advice on. This is most commonly due to the high interest rates and the increasing credit limits which encourage consumers to spend beyond their limits. The government has identified this problem and has announced new rights for credit card users, which will apparently save consumers millions of pounds and give them more financial control.

This is excellent news for consumers with credit card debts who seek advice on credit card debt reduction. The new rights will be implemented this year as soon as possible and the government estimates this will save consumers almost 300 million pounds a year. Gordon Brown said ‘These new rights will put an end to the irresponsible lending practices that people have been most concerned about, and help cut the cost of borrowing’.

The new rights will mean that consumers with credit card debts will pay the most expensive debt first, reversing the current practice. As well as this consumers will now be able to choose not to receive credit limit increases and the right to reduce their limit at anytime. They will be given more time to reject increases in their interest rate or their credit limit. This will help to cut and reduce consumer overspending on credit card debts.

There is also good news for consumers who are seeking debt help advice on taking out future credit, as there will be a new annual statement that will be sent out to consumers seeking credit card debt advice which will allow them to conduct an easy cost comparison with other providers.

Consumers seeking advice on debt through debt management, will welcome the ban on credit limit increases and rises in interest rates to protect people at risk of financial difficulties. The new rights can only be a good thing for consumers with credit card debts, let’s just hope that the government can implement these changes efficiently  and effectively in order to have the best possible impact on credit card users.

Carrying out a debt management plan is not as easy as it appears.  Many people think the process of combining all the debts into one lump sum payment and paying the debts off can be done by themselves.  Well, to be quite frank if it was that easy then people would not be getting themselves in debt in the first place!Before discussing debt management further it is important to distinguish between managing debts and debt consolidation. The former is a help plan to get you debt free from all of your personal debts.

 With a debt management plan you will no longer need to deal with your creditors yourself as the professionals will contact and negotiate directly with all your creditors for you as well as making the monthly payments! They will also negotiate with creditors to freeze or reduce interest charges. Once the plan begins, you only need to pay a single monthly more affordable payment.  You will find this will give you instant relief!  Your Monthly PaymentYour monthly payment into the plan will be based on your monthly income and living expenses and will be in line with your circumstances so affordable.  Once your payment is calculated the payment will be fixed.

With a consolidation loan your monthly payment will also be fixed and lower than your current outgoings but due to the rate of interest and the term of the consolidation loan you will be paying more back in the long term than your current debt level. It is therefore not wrong to state that a debt management plan can sometimes prove to be better than a debt consolidation loan.A Debt Management Plan will not only enable you to consolidate your debts into a single monthly , more affordable payment but will also allow you to escape the trap of continued debt..  So don’t be embarrassed if you are in need of debt help and contact a professional debt advice company for assistance.

Lending institutions are now becoming a lot more risk averse and turning down one in two people who have applied for a loan or a credit card as a result of the credit crunch.  Unfortunately this increase in rejections is set to increase even higher and as many as seven out of ten applications for credit are estimated to be rejected by 2012.

The large amount of personal debt in the UK which currently stands at a staggering £1391 billion (and continuing to get higher at an unprecedented level) has largely bee nas a result of the easy availability of credit.  However this previous train of ‘easy credit’ is coming to a steaming halt as banks and credit card companies tighten their lending criteria and become  a lot more responsible.

The problem for many is this culture many of us have grown familiar to this ‘buy now, pay later’ idea. Now if this easy credit train does stop this could result in a serious change in lifestyle for many people.  Furthermore, unfortunately it is a sad fact that some people rely on credit for their monthly living expenses just to make ends meet month to month and will suffer genuine financial difficulty should this easy credit train halt.