Edinburgh Debt Help

Debt advice and Trust Deed help for all of Scotland including Edinburgh

Please note that Money Advice Direct Debt Advice Service is a national organisation covering the entire UK. Please note that the service operates from offices in London and a national telephone advice centre in the north of England. The service does not operate a physical office or a seperate team in each of the city and regions listed on this page.

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish city after Glasgow. Edinburgh is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas.

Over 500 Edinburgh residents drowning in over £10,000 of pounds of debt have turned to Money Advice Direct for help in the last 12 months.

The national debt advice team survey covering the entire UK including the whole of Edinburgh revealed there are widespread debt problems facing residents across the following postcodes:-

1. EH1
2. EH10
3. EH12
4. EH13
5. EH14
6. EH15
7. EH16
8. EH17
9. EH2
10. EH20
11. EH21
12. EH28
13. EH29
14. EH3
15. EH30
16. EH4
17. EH5
18. EH6
19. EH7
20. EH8
21. EH9

debt advice covering Edinburgh

Money Advice Direct’s research portrays a worrying situation and it is crucial that any business or individual facing financial problems must seek help early. The main reason for debts is an inability to pay back the money due to a reduction in income. As such many Edinburgh residents are choosing bankruptcy as a way of clearing their debts, but there are other choices such as:

Protected Trust Deed – A trust deed is an alternative to bankruptcy for residents of Scotland. If you have savings or valuable of £3,000, there is less than £5,000 equity in your property, you can afford at least £100 per month and you have debts of more than £10,000 you may qualify for a protected trust deed. A Trust Deed is a real alternative to Sequestration (bankruptcy) and is very effective.

• A protected trust deed means up to 60-65% of debts can be written off
• You pay one payment for 3 years which is set as an affordable payment.
• Your creditors will deal with your trustee.
• A trust deed is legally binding, subject to terms and conditions and creditors approval.
• A trust deed is private.
• Read more about trust deeds here

Debt Management Plans (DMP) – A Debt Management Plan is an arrangement between you and your creditors managed for you by a third party. Under a DMP repay your debts at a rate you can afford and all contact and negotiations are carried out on your behalf thus removing the pressure and stress of debt collectors.

Sequestration (Bankruptcy) - Bankruptcy is a formal method of dealing with debts if other options have failed or are inappropriate. The consequences of bankruptcy are severe and no one should make an application for bankruptcy without seeking advice.

Towns in Edinburgh and the Lothians

• Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh
• Fairmilehead, City of Edinburgh
• Hillend, Midlothian
• Morningside, City of Edinburgh
• Corstorphine, City of Edinburgh
• Gogar, City of Edinburgh
• , City of Edinburgh
• Balerno, City of Edinburgh
• Craiglockhart, City of Edinburgh
• Currie, City of Edinburgh
• Hermiston, City of Edinburgh
• Juniper Green, City of Edinburgh
• Malleny Mills, City of Edinburgh
• Craigmillar, City of Edinburgh
• Liberton, City of Edinburgh
• Niddrie, City of Edinburgh
• Gilmerton, City of Edinburgh
• Kaimes, City of Edinburgh
• Loanhead, Midlothian
• Straiton, City of Edinburgh
• Inveresk, East Lothian
• Levenhall, East Lothian
• Musselburgh, East Lothian
• Newcraighall, City of Edinburgh
• Wallyford, East Lothian
• Newbridge, City of Edinburgh
• Ratho, City of Edinburgh
• Ratho Station, City of Edinburgh
• Kirkliston, City of Edinburgh
• Abercorn, West Lothian
• Dalmeny, City of Edinburgh
• South Queensferry, City of Edinburgh
• Blackhall, City of Edinburgh
• Cramond, City of Edinburgh
• Leith, City of Edinburgh

Debt Advice Case Study – Samantha Prost, 36 from Leith, Edinburgh

Miss Yates, worked as a Teacher, she has £36,000 of debt and was struggling to pay credit cards and store card. At one point it had become hard to afford food day-to-day for herself and her two children. She was in debt due to her husband passing away, fording her to survive on one income.

She said she was lucky because her Mother had provided her with somewhere to live when she could not afford anywhere herself.

Overuse of credit cards had left her thousands of pounds in the red. She kept asking for credit cards and loans and the banks and building societies kept giving them to me. She was facing poverty unless she borrowed more.

She thought she had found a solution with a debt management company she found in the back of a red top newspaper but the company she chose were just salesmen. They charged her £600 and didn’t help here. They took her money and didn’t pay her creditors.

She rang The UK Insolvency Helpline and they advised her against filing sequestration (bankruptcy) because she was so young. Money Advice Direct recommended Miss Yates should take out a protected Trust Deed. .This is a formal agreement between a debtor and their creditors to make reduced payments on outstanding debt over, typically, a three-year period.

Please note that for consumers considering a Bankruptcy Order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or Protected Trust Deed (PTD); that although the consumer may become debt free at the end of the Bankruptcy, IVA or PTD period, the effect on their credit rating is likely to remain on file for 6 years. In addition the consumers / debtors name, address and birth date will become public knowledge on the governments “Individual Insolvency Register”. The individual insolvency register (insolvency.gov.uk/eiir/) allows anyone to check, quickly and easily, if someone is bankrupt or has taken out an "individual voluntary arrangement" (IVA).

Please note that for consumers considering a Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or Protected Trust Deed (PTD); if the consumer is a property owner and there is sufficient equity in their property the supervisor of the IVA or PTD may require the debtor, to revalue their home and realise the equity to pay off some or all of the debt at some point in the procedure. Please beware of debt advice firms who not state that with an IVA and in a PTD the supervisor may require the debtor, if they are a homeowner, to revalue their home and realise the equity to pay off some or all of the debt.

Business Debt Advice in Edinburgh

Figures show there has been a doubling of business bankruptcy cases in Edinburgh in the past 12 months. The business sectors in Edinburgh that have been particularly affected by the credit crunch are construction and haulage.

The increase in business insolvencies could be catastrophic for Edinburgh and, unfortunately, could mean we will start to approach the numbers of redundancies. For the last three or four years a number of businesses in Edinburgh that perhaps were not performing well have been kept alive artificially by the easy availability of credit, which has now dried up.

Those companies in Edinburgh that have borrowed sensibly within their means will survive. Money Advice Direct believes the small to medium sized businesses in Edinburgh who have consistently remained in the black should still be here when things improve and be in a good position to grow.

Do you live in Edinburgh? Are you struggling to cope in the credit crunch? Are you getting the help you need? It is advisable for businesses and individuals to take professional advice as early as possible. If you are in debt please call us on 0800 074 6918.

Please note that the Bankruptcy-Insolvency.co.uk Debt Service is a national organisation covering the entire UK. Please note that the service operates from offices in London and a national telephone advice centre in the north of England. The service does not operate a physical office or a seperate team in each of the city and regions listed on this page.

This is a list of offical cities within the United Kingdom covered by Money Advice Direct.  

• Aberdeen
• Armagh
• Bangor
• Bath
• Belfast
• Birmingham
• Bradford
• Brighton and Hove
• Bristol
• Cambridge
• Canterbury
• Cardiff
• Carlisle
• Chester
• Chichester
• City of London
• Coventry
• Derby
• Dundee
• Durham
• Edinburgh
• Ely
• Exeter
• Glasgow
• Gloucester
• Hereford
• Inverness
• Kingston upon Hull
• Lancaster
• Leeds
• Leicester
• Lichfield
• Lincoln
• Lisburn
• Liverpool
• London
• Londonderry
• Manchester
• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Newport
• Newry
• Norwich
• Nottingham
• Oxford
• Peterborough
• Plymouth
• Portsmouth
• Preston
• Ripon
• Salford
• Salisbury
• Sheffield
• Southampton
• St Albans
• St Davids
• Stirling
• Stoke-on-Trent
• Sunderland
• Swansea
• Truro
• Wakefield
• Wells
• Westminster
• Winchester
• Wolverhampton
• Worcester
• York
  

List of counties covered by Money Advice Direct

• Avon
• Bedfordshire
• Berkshire
• Borders
• Buckinghamshire
• Cambridgeshire
• Central
• Cheshire
• Cleveland
• Clwyd
• Cornwall
• County Antrim
• County Armagh
• County Down
• County Fermangh
• County Londonderry
• County Tyrone
• Cumbria
• Derbyshire
• Devon
• Dorset
• Dumfries and Galloway
• Durham
• Dyfed
• East Sussex
• Essex
• Fife
• Gloucestershire
• Grampian
• Greater Manchester
• Gwent
• Gwynedd County
• Hampshire
• Herefordshire
• Hertfordshire
• Highlands and Islands
• Humberside
• Isle of Wight
• Kent
• Lancashire
• Leicestershire
• Lincolnshire
• Lothian
• Merseyside
• Mid Glamorgan
• Norfolk
• North Yorkshire
• Northamptonshire
• Northumberland
• Nottinghamshire
• Oxfordshire
• Powys
• Rutland
• Shropshire
• Somerset
• South Glamorgan
• South Yorkshire
• Staffordshire
• Strathclyde
• Suffolk
• Surrey
• Tayside
• Tyne and Wear
• Warwickshire
• West Glamorgan
• West Midlands
• West Sussex
• West Yorkshire
• Wiltshire
• Worcestershire