MADAM,

Christmas is over for another year. Very often we eat too much and now in January the bills start coming in and many people, sad to say, end up in debt.

Financial mismanagement is no fun, it puts great strain on family life and many individuals have sadly committed suicide due to the situation they are in. I have been in debt and the one thing I learnt was not ignore it, as it only got worse. The main thing is to take action as soon as possible.

Go to a website called moneyadvice

service.org.uk, or telephone 0800 138 7777. They give really good advice on all sorts of money matters such as debt, pensions, money management and insurance.

There are also three national debt counselling agencies, they are all on the internet and give good advice and do not charge you. These are Christians Against Poverty, Payplan and Debt Advice Foundation.

David Ball

(Swansea)