Christmas is over. Your tree is long gone, your decorations are back in the loft. And you’ve shoved all those credit cards bills in the kitchen drawer…
The debt bills are out of sight because many of us can’t face up to the mountain of money we owe and crippling interest payments that can pile up on credit. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. As New Year gets underway, the average household credit card debt in the UK is £2500, and for lots of us it’s many thousands more.
Channel 5 this coming week have helpful advice for those of us who love to spend, spend spend, even when we can’t really afford it. In an hour-long programme viewers will be taken on a journey full of debt-busting inspiration.
Welcome to the world of stoozing, cash stuffing, and the snowball method …
Along the way the show will meet every day folk trying to deal with crippling credit card bills. Like mum Meghan, who’s £17,000 in the red after years of ignoring what she owes; shopaholic Michele, who uses six credit cards to max out her lifestyle; and father-of-two Derrick, who’s had the debt collectors knocking at his door.
Channel 5 learn just how essential your credit score is – including some tricks for making it skyrocket. The documentary will debunk the myth of ‘minimum payments’, reveal the dangers of ‘compound interest’, and explain the secret ways lenders try to lure you into paying what you really can’t afford. And thanks to the insights of some financial experts, Channel 5 will show how a strict budget bootcamp can bring down a debt mountain and make finances fighting fit again.
And once you’re back in the black, there are big rewards to be reaped. The programme meets Neil, who uses his credit cards to live a life of jet-setting luxury on a shoestring, and Steve, who deploys his plastic to save him hundreds at the supermarket…
How to Clear Your Credit Card Quickly, Channel 5, Wednesday, January 22nd at 8 pm
