Just because you’ve run into some serious financial distress doesn’t mean you’re a failure – it just means that you like everyone else, is human.

There are dozens of reasons why you may have ended up in such a situation, and while some of them may be due to circumstances beyond your control while others may have been unfortunate mistakes that you made because you were thinking more about keeping a roof over your head for another month than the long-term consequences of having to pay off a payday loan, the end results are the same: you need aid if you want to avoid your own miniature economic collapse. There’s simply no other way to say it: you’re in trouble, you need help, and you can’t afford to spend time feeling like you’ve failed yourself or your family if you’re going to find a solution that will keep everyone safe and happy.

YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF

You simply don’t have the luxury of feeling ashamed of yourself when it comes to crippling debt, as the longer you wait out of fear of being exposed for your supposed shameful behaviour before looking for a resolution to your financial problems, the worse those problems are going to be. Instead you’ve got to bite the bullet and go to those you trust for advice, whether that be your friends or your family members – and in the event that you don’t have anyone to turn to in your personal life, you owe it to yourself and your family to turn to a debt advice charity such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or ring up National Debtline and ask for help in resolving your situation.

Debt advice charities are especially adept in solving financial problems, as many of them will – completely for free – approach your creditors and negotiate a settlement for each of your debts. Oftentimes this will result in cutting your overall debt by a wide margin and leaving you with a much more affordable monthly repayment amount, which can help pave the way towards financial independence sooner than you ever thought possible.

DON’T DISCOUNT YOUR LOCAL CREDIT UNION

If you’re looking for other ways to cope with your debt problems that don’t involve approaching a friend, a family member, or a debt advice charity, you would be remiss if you didn’t consider your local credit union. Credit unions are not for profit financial services providers that are owned and operated by their members, which means that they have a vested interest in anyone who holds a savings account or takes out a loan from them, which means the treatment you’ll get from credit union staff is head-and-shoulders above your local high street branch.

On top of that, the interest rates that credit unions charge are so incredibly low – capped by law at 2 per cent a month or less – that even a weighty loan will see you paying back nearly nothing in interest every month. This can let you pay off loans with high interest rates, freeing you up to repay your credit union loan slower and with less cost to you – which can spell the difference between financial rebirth and economic disaster.

© 2012 All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

Image: 089/365 Money…What Money by stuartpilbrow