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How Can I Find Out How Much Debt I Owe?

Life can be a complicated affair with a variety of demands all competing for our attention. From getting your groceries to organising meetups, your time is precious. Therefore, it’s understandable why a few details would slip through the cracks.

This is especially true when it comes to finances – perhaps the most boring of all matters you need to keep track of. However, it is arguably the most important. If you’ve lost track of where you stand with one or two creditors, here’s how you can clear things up.

What debts do I have?

 

Whether dealing with credit cards or managing personal loans, you might have lost track of which lenders you owe money to. Assuming you set up direct debits, you might have even forgotten about your debts completely – it’s just an expense which comes out of your account.

If you want a more detailed picture, there are a couple of ways you can go about it.

Request a credit report

Your credit report contains detailed information about your finances and can be accessed through many credit reference agencies, such as Experian. Alternatively, you can usually pay a third-party to access this information on your behalf.

Your report usually contains:

  • Personal details such as name, date of birth, address, and previous properties;

  • Whether you share accounts with someone else. This could include a mortgage with your partner;

  • What debts you have. This could include overdrafts, credit cards, bills from energy providers, and contract payments;

  • Whether you’ve missed payments on any of these;

  • Any penalty actions, such as CCJs;

  • Whether you’ve taken out a debt solution.

This report should paint a detailed picture of just how much you owe – and to who.

Check your bank statements

If that option doesn’t work, then consult your bank statements to see where your money is going every month. These detail the names of organisations you have direct debits with and when payments go to them.

If a name on this list doesn’t look familiar, you should be able to find more information about them through a search engine.

How to find outstanding debt

Using the methods mentioned above, you should have a complete list of all the creditors you owe money to. You should also have a good idea of how much your debt is worth and where you stand on repayments.

However, to double-check, feel free to contact these organisations and request more details about your account. Potentially, you could discover you’ve been overpaying and may be due a rebate.

Do you have a CCJ in your name?

You may receive a County Court Judgement (CCJ) if someone takes legal action against you for unpaid debts. This notice will indicate how much you owe, how to settle the debt, who has taken the action against you, and the deadline for repaying.

Although you should have received notice of the CCJ in the post, you can check if you have one of these judgements against you through your credit report. Alternatively, you can check Trust Online for a £6 fee.

Has my debt been passed to a collection agency?

 

If you’ve been ignoring your debts for a while, then creditors may pass your details over to a debt collection agency. When this occurs, debt collectors will be in regular contact so you should know if these individuals have been tasked with reclaiming what you owe.

If you’re concerned though, ask your creditors if they’ve passed your details over to a collection agency.

Don’t wait for creditors to contact you

You should be able to identify how much you owe by either speaking directly with your creditors, checking your credit report, or reviewing bank statements. However, if you still can’t find the information you seek, you’ll need to wait until your creditors send you a message.

However, this is not generally recommended. If your debt remains unpaid and unchecked, it will only increase and the chances of you paying it on time will decline.

As a result, if you’re struggling to repay what you owe you should consider getting debt help – and this is something we’d be happy to support you with.

Simplify your finances through debt consolidation

One of the major advantages of debt consolidation is that it simplifies your finances and – in essence – incorporates multiple debts into one affordable monthly amount. Therefore, your money should be much easier to manage.

Furthermore, if you consolidate your debts, you might be able to save cash every month.

To find out if you’d qualify, click the button below:

Do I qualify for debt consolidation?