The answer to this isn’t really isn’t a clear cut yes or no. An individual’s own personal circumstances are extremely important in ascertaining whether a debt management plan is not only suitable but available.

So, “personal circumstances” or “individual circumstances” are terms often used frequently when discussing someone looking at finance options. What do they mean? Well, in the terms of debt management there are a number of key factors that are looked at when it comes to “individual circumstances.”

Firstly, the level of debt would be calculated and it must also be clear that the customer must be struggling with payments. “Struggling” is a tough word to define but generally it means that payments are being consistently late or missed and that the customer cannot see a way of meeting the monthly commitments. For a debt management plan to work then the customer must owe in excess of £5000 and this must be with at least 2 separate companies.

Secondly, it has to be clear that payments on a debt management plan would be affordable to the customer. Clearly it needs to be cheaper than the payments on the current credit but a debt management company will only approve a plan if it is deemed to be affordable. A debt management company will not want a customer to default on its agreed payments.

A debt management plan is not an option to be taken lightly but if payments are clearly being missed, which is therefore affecting a customer’s credit rating, then a debt management plan or an IVA may be one of the only options available.