If you are struggling to pay credit cards, loans, store cards or catalogues, you can arrange a repayment programme that you can afford, via a charitable debt advice agency such as National Debt line or the Citizen's Advice Bureau. Alternatively you can use a Debt advice company to work on your behalf, although unlike the charitable agencies, they will make a charge for the work they undertake.

They both work in a similar manner in that they administer your reduced payments - you pay the money to them and they pass it on to your creditors.

As with all types of arrangement, debt management plans only deals with unsecured debts. This means secured debts such as mortgages; secured loans and Hire Purchase are excluded and will need to be paid as usual.

You agree a repayment programme with the charitable debt advice agency or debt advice company who will then liaise with your creditors (the companies you owe the money to) to try to get them to agree to your reduced repayment offer.

If your creditors agree, you pay the money to the debt management charity or company every week or month as agreed, and they will in turn make the payments to your creditors as set out in the agreement.

To be accepted for a debt management plan, a debt advice agency will normally have some criteria that you need to meet. Most of them require your total debt to be at least £5,000 owed to at least 3 different creditors and that you have a monthly disposable income of at least £100 per month that you can offer to gradually repay your debts.

There is also the likelihood that creditors will not allow inclusion of unsecured debt facilities on which less than 3 months repayments have been made.