If you’re tired of making the mad scramble at the end of every month to repay your debt from payday loans, here are some tips to get free and clear.

Times have been hard for far too long in the years after the credit crisis and resultant economic downturn. Wage freezes and jobs losses have taken their toll on the finances of the best of us, and along with the rising cost of living, we’ve all had to make do with less and less , and some of us have had to rely upon high interest rate short term loans that it seems impossible to get out from under; however, there are ways to break the cycle and stop having to rely on increasingly expensive payday advance lending to scrape by from month to month.

Sort out your finances

The main reason people end up having to rely on payday lenders is simply because their incomes don’t match their outgoings, and that they find themselves short at the end of the month when it’s time to pay for essentials like rent, food, or utilities. What you need to do is sort out your finances so your bills are low enough to handle with the money you actually take home; this is, of course, easier said than done, but there are some things you can do to begin the process of sorting your finances out to the point where you no longer need to rely on payday lenders.

You’ll need to tighten your belt as much as you can without sacrificing anything that’s a requirement. You can’t cut corners on expenses when it comes to taking care of basic needs, but do you really need that expensive mobile phone with the unlimited data plan for £30 a month, especially when you’ve been taking out hundreds of pounds in payday lending for months on end?

Talk about your financial distress

This may seem like anathema to you, but if you’ve gotten yourself in serious trouble with payday lending, you’ve got to speak up and tell someone about your financial situation in order to get help in digging your way out. There are many different debt charities in the UK that are just a quick phone call away, staffed by financial experts ready to offer you the best advice they can in order to help you out of your predicament, but they’re not mind readers – you’ve got to ring them up, as they can’t call you.

Barring that, you need to talk to your landlord or your utility provider to see if you can’t arrange a repayment plan that will leave you enough cash free to repay your payday loans in full so you can be free and clear of them. Once you accomplish that, you can slowly but surely work on building your financial stability back up, taking careful steps to avoid the same mistakes you made that saw you having to rely upon payday lenders in the first place.

Finally, and this may be the hardest part, talk to your friends and family for advice. If you’re particularly lucky, you may end up being offered a loan to help get you back on your feet,  but beware: nothing ruins close relationships quite like money, so don’t take out any loans from loved ones unless you’re absolutely committed to repaying the loan in full!

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