What to Do If You Can't Pay Your Self Assessment Tax Bill by 31 January
Facing a Self Assessment tax bill you can't pay by the 31 January deadline is more common than most people assume, and HMRC has a specific, genuinely…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
October 9th 2026
January Debt Hangover: A Realistic Plan to Clear Christmas Spending
If Christmas spending outpaced what you'd saved for it, January doesn't have to mean months of financial strain. Here's a practical, non-judgmental plan…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
October 7th 2026
Black Friday Debt: How to Enjoy the Sales Without Starting January in the Red
Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become one of the biggest concentrated spending events of the UK calendar, and the combination of genuine discounts,…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
October 5th 2026
How to Deal With Council Tax Arrears Before Enforcement Action Starts
Council tax arrears escalate through a specific legal process faster than many people realise - a single missed payment can lead to enforcement action…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
October 3rd 2026
Debt and Mental Health: Where to Get Free, Confidential Help in the UK
The relationship between debt and mental health runs in both directions - financial difficulty can affect wellbeing, and periods of poor mental health can…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
October 1st 2026
Rent Arrears: Your Rights and the First Steps Before It Escalates
Rent arrears now sit within a genuinely different legal landscape than even a year ago, following the biggest reform to English tenancy law in over three…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 29th 2026
Student Loan Repayments Explained: Plan 2 vs Plan 5 and What You'll Actually Repay
Student loan repayments work fundamentally differently from other debt - there's no fixed monthly bill, the loan doesn't appear on your credit file,…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 27th 2026
How to Talk to Your Bank About a Payment Break Without It Hurting Your Credit File
Many people avoid contacting their bank when they're struggling, worried that simply asking for help will itself damage their credit file. In most cases,…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 25th 2026
Should You Use Savings to Pay Off Debt, or Keep Them Separate?
If you have both savings and debt at the same time, it can seem obviously wasteful to keep both - surely it's better to clear the debt with the savings?…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 23rd 2026
How Bank Rate Changes Affect Your Credit Card and Loan Repayments
Bank of England Bank Rate decisions get plenty of coverage for their effect on mortgages, but the impact on credit cards and personal loans is less often…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 21st 2026
Buy Now, Pay Later: How It's Changing (and Being Regulated) in 2026
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) has grown from a niche checkout option into a UK market worth billions of pounds, largely without the consumer protections that…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 19th 2026
Payday Loans and High-Cost Credit: What the FCA Rules Actually Protect You From
Payday loans and other high-cost short-term credit products have a well-earned reputation for being expensive, but a set of FCA rules - now in place for a…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 17th 2026
Overdrafts Explained: Why They're One of the Most Expensive Ways to Borrow
Overdrafts feel like a minor, convenient safety net built into your current account - but since 2020 reforms changed how they're priced, they've quietly…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 15th 2026
Debt Management Plans vs IVAs: What's the Difference?
If you're dealing with debt that feels unmanageable through your own budgeting alone, a Debt Management Plan (DMP) and an Individual Voluntary Arrangement…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 13th 2026
Debt Consolidation Loans: When They Help and When They Make Things Worse
Consolidating several debts into one loan can genuinely simplify your finances and, in the right circumstances, reduce your overall interest cost - but it…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 11th 2026
0% Balance Transfer Cards Explained: The Fees Providers Don't Advertise
A 0% balance transfer card can be a genuinely effective way to clear existing credit card debt without accruing further interest - but the headline '0%'…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 9th 2026
How to Rebuild Your Credit Score After a Missed Payment or Default
A missed payment or default feels like a permanent black mark, but credit scores are genuinely rebuildable - the process just takes consistent, deliberate…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 7th 2026
How Missed Payments Affect Your Credit Score (and How Long They Stay There)
A single missed payment can feel like a minor slip, but understanding exactly how it's recorded - and for how long - helps put it in perspective and shows…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 5th 2026
Credit Utilisation Explained: Why Maxing Out a Card Hurts Even If You Pay It Off
A surprisingly common source of credit score confusion: paying your credit card off in full every month, yet still seeing a lower score than expected.…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 3rd 2026
Snowball vs Avalanche: Which Debt Payoff Method Actually Suits You?
If you're paying off multiple debts at once, the order you tackle them in can genuinely affect both how quickly you clear the total and how likely you are…
Marsha Marcus-Kennedy
September 1st 2026