Preparing for the Meeting

Help your Advisor help you

You may want to download and complete the Budget Planner below prior to meeting with an advisor so that you are fully prepared with the appropriate information your advisor will need in order to help you with your debt situation. The Budget Planner is very comprehensive and not all items will necessarily apply to your own situation.

The budget planner has been prepared by and is Copyright of the Money Advice Trust.

Statements, letters and any Correspondence from creditors, bailiffs, collection agencies etc

The following is a check list of items you may need to hand. It will assist both you and your advisor if you have them readily available rather than having to go hunting all over the place. Not all items will be needed eg if you do not owe your catalogue provider any money then a statement may not be necessary. The list is not exhaustive but does give you an idea of what is needed. Good quality photocopies will be helpful particularly court papers since we will not take them with us (any other original papers, statements etc that we do take are returned once copied onto our system).

• ANY letters from collection agencies, bailiffs, creditors, solicitors etc
• Bank accounts statements
• Catalogues statements
• Copies of Court papers
• Credit cards statements
• Loans agreements - This includes Personal Loans and Hire Purchase or Conditional Loan agreements
• Mortgage and details of any other loans secured on your property - How much you owe and to whom
• Payment books eg from doorstep lenders
• Store cards statements

If you have not heard from a creditor for a while and you don't have a statement you should get in touch with the creditor to obtain at the very least an account number.

In addition your advisor would like your latest three months payslips (13 if weekly paid) or if self employed proof of drawings. If you do not have these to hand at the meeting you can send them in shortly afterwards.

You may want to open another Bank Account if all of your income (salary, child benefit, tax credits etc) is being paid into a bank that you owe money to (eg overdraft and/or credit card and/or loan etc). The banks have right of offset and can freeze your current account allowing money to go in but not allowing you to take any out. This could mean you have nothing to live on. The bank can also take any savings you have too. The Financial Services Authority provide a list of suitable BASIC bank accounts (some provide a debit card) click here for the FSA table of the types of bank account available. Your adviser will discuss this with you in more depth if you require.