In May, 2005, Barclays warned of falling profits in its Barclaycard credit card division as a result of customers missing repayments and increasing bad debts.  Additionally, according to the BBA, the proportion of interest-bearing credit card balances in February, 2005, was 74.5 percent.  These alarming facts make people aware that consolidating debt and making reasonable repayment arrangements is a top priority.

            National Debtline has existed since 1987 to provide free, confidential advice to people with debt problems in England, Wales and Scotland.  This service is a national telephone helpline that was set up in conjunction with Birmingham Settlement and the Money Advice Association.  National Debtline currently works with five other UK agencies to achieve its goals, including Citizens Advice, adviceUK, Citizens Advice Scotland, Northern Ireland Association of Citizens Advice Bureau and Money Advice Scotland.  National Debtline is also now part of the Money Advice Trust.  This means they are a charity (as of 1991) that works in partnership with the government, the private section and the UK's leading money advice agencies to increase available money advice and improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of its delivery.

            This organization provides free self-help advice to callers and gives them written self-help factsheets and packs.  The service also assists in setting up Debt Management Plans.  The information is easy to obtain and follow.  A recent survey of their clients revealed that 90 percent of callers deemed the advisor they spoke to was very helpful; 96 percent of callers felt the information was easy to follow; and 99 percent of callers stated they would call National Debtline again if they had further debt issues.  The service has a postal address in Birmingham and their freephone has long hours and a 24-hour voicemail to take messages.  You can also contact them by email. 

            National Debtline has trained advisors who speak to debtors about their individual circumstances and give advice about courses of action and how to go about them.  The calls are taken and treated in strict confidence and you can even remain anonymous.  An additional benefit is their interpreter service, called Language Line, that gives immediate access to professional telephone interpreters in any of 100 languages, around the clock.

            A potential caller can review a great deal of information online at National Debtline's website.  There are six pertinent sections to look over.  The first section enables a person to get their own copy of information.  The second section goes over frequently asked questions.  The third section is a library of factsheets.  The fourth section contains a self help pack that shows a person how to decide which debts to deal with first, how to make a personal budget, how to work out offers of payment and how to deal with court procedures.  The fifth section has a personal weekly or monthly budget sheet that assists in determining how much money is coming into a household, how much money is going out, work out offers to creditors and plan spending in the future.  The sixth section has samples letters that can be generated to send to creditors.

            National Debtline is free, easy and can give a person in debt a direction to take, as well as a course of action to follow.  It is a great first step toward resolving personal indebtedness.