Debt Advice and Money Management
The Money Management and Debt Advice Centre at SPS is now open. It will operate from the Cafe room on Monday evenings 6pm to 9pm.
For people who want assistance in managing their finances please e mail money.management@stpaulsshadwell.org and book an appointment with one of our Money Coaches. Two books that are worth referring to are "The Money Revolution" by John Preston and "The Money Secret" by Rob Parsons. Both of these books can be borrowed from SPS via the e mail address.
For those who would like assistance in managing serious debt please send an e mail to money.management@stpaulsshadwell.org and book and appointment or contact
any of the following agencies.
www.capuk.org
Consumer Credit Counselling Service 0800 138 1111
www.creditaction.org.uk
www.cas.org.uk
There are lots of organisations offering debt advice but please be wary of any that take payment for their services.
We can help
If you are in debt, don’t panic. But it is important to do something, because the problem won’t just go away.
Seeking help is the first step towards solving your difficulties with debt and managing money. We want to help you to be free from the worries of debt and released to live without the fear of un-payable bills nor of threatening creditors to whom you may owe sums of money.
To help you we will try to:
- understand the causes of your difficulties;
- work with you in prioritising your debts and drawing up a realistic budget;
- support you as you live within that budget;
- help you deal with creditors and arrange manageable repayments of your debts that you can afford;
- provide information on ways to increase your income.
We tailor our advice to each individual, and we will seek to help you in a way that is most appropriate to you. Please let us know if you have any particular needs or concerns.
We usually advise in pairs and we try to ensure that you always see the same advisors, though sometimes this may not be possible.
Having confidence in us
Our Centre is open to anyone who needs our advice on tackling debt problems, regardless of their race, religion, color, gender, ability or the stage of debt they are in.
We promise that anything you tell us will be heard in confidence and not passed on to anyone outside of the Centre without your permission. We will only act on your behalf with creditors, or any other third parties, if we have your signed agreement.
Copies of our policies including those dealing with complaints, equal opportunity and data protection are available on request.
If we cannot help
Sometimes we may think that you need more specialist advice than we can offer. If this is the case we will do our best to refer you to another advice centre or specialist.
If we feel you are withholding information from us or are involved in any suspicious or illegal activities, we may decide we can no longer offer you advice.
We are in contact with other reputable organisations working in this and other related specialist fields.
What we need to know
To be able to help you we will need to know about:
- your household, who you live with
- your income: salary and benefits, and the income of others in your household
- your expenditure: what you spend your money on
To be able to help you plan, we will also need to know more about your other regular outgoings, including:
- food and housekeeping
- travel
- clothing/ emergencies
- TV licence/ rental
- hire purchase agreements
- prescriptions/ health costs
- other regular household spending
- going out and other socialising
What you should bring
It will help if you can bring recent documents, such as:
- mortgage statements/ rent books
- council tax bills
- water, gas, electricity and telephone bills
We are here to help you
We know that being in debt is stressful. We offer a listening ear and honest advice with a friendly and non-judgmental approach. We respect your rights and ability to make your own decisions and will help you to make the best ones given your circumstances.
We will not charge you
The Debt Advice Centre is affiliated to St Paul’s Shadwell. All our advisors are volunteers, trained to give basic debt advice. The aim of the Centre is to provide free, confidential, independent and impartial debt advice to all in the communities of Shadwell, Wapping and Stepney who may benefit.
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