Three ways to cut your debt

You may not be on the verge of picking up the phone to arrange an IVA, but you could be much closer to debt problems than you think. So it's worth making sure you're managing it as best you can.

We are, says The Times, reaching "unknown levels of indebtedness". Individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs), also known as bankruptcy-lite', exceeded 50,000 last year, up from around 20,000 in 2005. Including bankruptcies, more than 100,000 people were declared insolvent last year and analysts expect that total to breach 150,000 in 2007. But even if you're not on the verge of picking up the phone to your nearest IVA provider, you may well have no cause to feel smug. Many of us are much closer to having debt problems than we like to think. With that in mind, it is well worth doing an audit of your debt to make sure that you are managing it (and cutting it down) as well as you can.

Debt help: Shift credit card

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.