These come under all kinds of different names but basically they’re an advance on your salary.

That means that obviously you need to be in employment to get one and usually for at least three months. You’ll also need a bank account as payment is directly into your bank account and lastly a cheque book. Finally, as they’re effectively an advance on your salary you need to pay them back when your salary next arrives in your account.

A payday advance loan tends to look as though it is incredibly expensive when you look at the rate of interest but then that’s calculated on an annual basis and these loans are for less than a month so, yes, the interest rate looks high but the amount actually charged isn’t as bad as you might think.

Popularity: 11% [?]

There are many people in this boat right now and if you are one of them, and still placing all those letters with the little window in a drawer in the hope they will disappear then it is time to face up to the situation. Leaving your debts to chance will only see them increase. Writing a letter to a creditor and explaining your situation is the first step towards regaining control over your finances – do this and they will be able to help you, don’t – and they cannot, plus it should stop those annoying and intimidating phone calls from collection agencies disturbing you at all hours of the day and night. Once you have taken this first step and made contact you will be surprised at how much they can assist you – you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner…

If you cannot make an offer/payment immediately send a letter set out in this way…

Name of Creditor

Address

Postcode

Date

Dear Sir/Madam

Re: Account No…

I regret that I am unable to maintain my current monthly payments because…….your explanation (and be honest)

I am writing to all my creditors requesting details of the balance outstanding on my accounts and would be grateful if you would let me know how much I owe you. Once I have obtained this information I will contact you again with a pro rata offer for repaying the above debt.;or

I have applied for…….benefit and will contact you again as soon as I start to receive it; or

I have been sick/unemployed since……….and am due to start/return to work on (date) and will contact you again once I have started/returned to work.

Meanwhile I request that you hold action on my account for two months and suspend interest and other charges to prevent my indebtedness from increasing.

Yours faithfully

You will find that taking the first step towards acknowledging your situation will be the hardest step but once you have done this you should feel less of a burden on your shoulders, probably sleep better too. Once you send off that letter/s make sure you follow through and do stay in contact with your creditor/s – you must stand by your word if your situation is to improve.

Popularity: 20% [?]

If you wanted to send a small amount of money to someone, for most people the simplest thing to do is to either pop a cheque in the post or simply to post the cash. If it’s a large chunk of cash then cheques and bank transfers are the way to go normally.

However, what if it’s a sum that lies in the middle ground and you want to send it internationally? For most people the answer isn’t nearly so cut and dried there. For instance, if you were sending EUR 200 from the UK to France or vice versa you’d be looking at around £25/EUR 20 in bank charges for the cheque or transfer and that’s before you factor in the tourist rate of exchange that you’d be getting.

If it’s a company you’re sending it to then you could use a credit/debit card of course, but that’s not really an option for an individual, is it? Well, actually these days it is as the person you’re sending it to could have a paypal account in which case, if they upgrade it to a premium account, then they could take the money off you at a cost of around 4%.

However, if it’s a family member a more practical way is to pop into the post office and pick up a travel money card and just post it to them. There’s no security risk as you can wait ’til it arrives before enabling the card. It costs around 4% to exchange the money from sterling to euros or dollars and it’ll be £5 or so two years later to renew it.

Popularity: 14% [?]