Just to vouch for stepchange . An ex of mine got herself into a shitload of debt . Catalogs , credit cards , bank charges , pay day loans , phone contracts , etc . She got in touch with stepchange , listed her debts to them , and they contacted each one , helped her freeze the debt , so it did not gain further interest , and basically helped her contain it to a manageable monthly outgoing , dividing the payments to the companies themselves , so she didn ' t have to stress by contacting the companies anymore she was very depressed , amongst many other personal issues , and updating her every single payment with how much there is left to pay . Of course she eventually fucked it up and stopped paying them , but as someone watching and trying to help , it seemed an amazingly useful service for someone who actually wants to help themselves and isn ' t a cheating lazy stupid fucking whore . Sorry . Sidetracked .