We understand that many people face financial difficulties at some stage in their lives. But for a few it becomes a real problem.  If you’re concerned about debt or meeting repayments, the important thing is not to hide or ignore it.

The earlier you address a potential problem, the sooner you can take action to solve it, reducing stress and potentially saving money in the long run.

• Be honest with yourself about your current outgoings
• Stick to budgets that you have set yourself
• Review lifestyle habits that could make a change to your outgoings
• Don’t hide or ignore debt as it will get harder to solve
• It’s good to talk! Talk about your debt with Reto and use the free advice services.

If you have a problem meeting your obligations to Reto you should speak to us as early as possible. We’re here to help.

• List your Debts/Creditors – before you can tackle a debt problem it is helpful to work out how much money you owe and how many creditors you owe it to. To do this, you will need to make a list of all the companies you owe money to (your creditors).
• Prioritising your Debts/Creditors – After you have a list of all your creditors, you need to work out which debts are more urgent by splitting your list into priority debts and non-priority debts.
• Understanding your Income vs Outgoings – To get an understanding of where your income is going completing a budget form will help you get a better understanding of how much you can afford to pay your creditors.

Setting and sticking to a budget is the crucial first step in managing debt. See below our top 3 helpful budgeting tips.

• Money Advice Service
  www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/budget-planner
• Printable Budget Sheet
  www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Documents/Advice%20factsheets/Debt/d-budget-sheet.pdf

• Jersey Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB)
  www.cab.org.je
• Guernsey Citizens Advice Bureau
  www.citizensadvice.org.gg
  
• Jersey Consumer Council
  https://www.jerseyconsumercouncil.org.je/who-we-are-page

The CAB provides free, confidential, impartial information and advice on a wide range of debt and benefits issues face to face. Look in the phone book or on the CAB website for the telephone number of your local bureau. 

StepChange Debt Charity are the UK’s leading debt charity offering free, confidential debt help and support to anyone with money worries. Their free debt management can help you get back in control of your money and move forward with your life.

National Debt-line is a telephone helpline for people struggling with debt. National Debtline can also send you a free debt advice pack that includes guidance on completing a personal budget as well as answering legal questions connected with debt.

This network supports free advice providers and can give details of your nearest debt advice centre.

A helpline that helps you to carry out your own benefits calculation to ensure that you are receiving all benefits that you are entitled to.

The Money Advice Service provides information and tools to help you manage your money better.

At Reto we take your online safety seriously. While we use secure systems and messaging to make our own digital space safe, you should still take some simple measures to protect yourself against fraud online.

• • Always protect your information, including passwords, account numbers and PIN codes. Legitimate banks won’t request these details by phone or email, so if someone asks you for them, it could be a scam.
  • Beware of unsolicited emails. Fraudsters often try to access information by getting you to open attachments or click on links. If in doubt, ignore it. If the email claims to be from Reto, you can phone us to check if it’s legitimate.
  • Keep your computer safe with up-to-date anti-virus and firewall software. Avoid letting people you don’t know use your computer, or giving them remote access to your system.