Pound Advice Service

We offer flexible telephone advice appointments for new and follow up appointments. Our case managers are often busy making calls to clients during the day but you contact our office on: 01553 970004. We  offer an out of hours message facility on our helpline: 01553 970004.

If you need to leave a message, please state any emergencies and leave your full name and contact number.

Please note that due to the current cost of living crisis,  demand for our services is high, and on occasions staffing levels can be affected.

Money Advice Hub

Office email is help@moneyadvicehub.email

Office WhatsApp is 07832361245

You can also use Money Advice Hub's live chat on this website.

Pound Advice

Tel: 0203 475 2221

Text: pound and your name to 60777

Email: pound@we-are-digital.co.uk

We are able to offer free advice because we invest any income we receive by funding our free community advice services. This helps us to meet our charitable objectives.

Our advisers are professionally qualified. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Our firm reference number and limited company details can be located at the footer of this website.

Our debt advisers will:

• put you at ease

• ask you a lot of questions and check your information

• discuss all your debt options

• confirm advice and help you sort your debts
  
  

Your enquiry will be allocated a case reference number. You can ask for this and make a note of it to give to your creditors.

Money Advice Hub developed a 5 stage quick guide, to help you understand what to expect when you access free debt advice. Your case manager will take you through these stages. You can read the complete 'Quick Guide to Debt Advice' on this website, or you can read a more detailed guide on our 'Your Debt Advice Journey' website page.

You will be given a debt pack to complete to help this process. If you might struggle to complete the debt pack yourself, your case manager will be able to support you with this.

The sooner you seek advice and take action, the sooner you can be released from the pressure & stress of debt problems.

Stage 1. Explain your financial situation

• Start with your personal household details.

• The types of debt and how they started?

• Any emergency debts you have?

• Let your creditors know you are getting help.

Stage 2. Draw up a detailed financial budget

• Check your income less than essential living expenses.

• Identify any priority debt you must pay.

• Discuss budgeting & income maximisation tips.

• Consider any essential assets you own.

Stage 3. Find out your debt options.

• Discuss any entitlement to charitable help.

• Check your liability for debt.

• Compare formal & informal debt solutions.

• Confirm any eligibility criteria.

Stage 4. Find out your debt options.

• Consider any application fees involved.

• Do you need to protect any essential assets?

• How long will the debt solution last?

• Pick an affordable, maintainable debt solution.

Stage 5. Find out your debt options.

• Make sure you have a basic, safe bank account.

• Set up any debt repayments you need to make.

• Plan for future life events affecting your money.

• Think about budgeting and savings longer term.

Your case manager will confirm whether any documents are required from you, for example, if your enquiry involves credit debt such as credit cards, we are likely to need:

• recent debt letters with the amounts you owe on them

• latest council tax bill

• valid photo ID or an alternative form of ID 

• a mortgage or rent statement (we always obtain your rent statement from L & Q)

• 3 months recent bank statements

• 3 months recent wage slips

• any recent benefit letters

• estimates of any assets you own, such as a vehicle or property

• a completed budget (we offer a follow up appointment to complete this if required)

• a signed consent form

• copies of any hire purchase or PCP agreement

Completing your income and expenditure is a really important part of the debt advice process, please try to return your completed budget as soon as you can.

We offer several methods to send your documents to us:

• By post

• Email attachment

• WhatsApp or Text images

• Our Document Upload Portal
  
  

Please confirm how you will send your documents to us with your case manager.

Your case manager will help you consider ways of improving your budget. You can follow this up by visiting our Improving Your Household Budget web page. 

You can then start looking at ways to make your situation better.

Contacting your creditors to tell them you are struggling is important. Money Advice Hub has a Debt Advice Passport tool to do this. Your case manager can help you get started. Please also visit our Contacting Your Creditors web page.

Some of your debts might be old debts, if this is the case, it is best to tell your case manager first before contacting them as these debts might not be legally enforceable. 

You can also visit our Statute Barred web page for more information.

Some creditors allow an informal breathing space (a temporary hold on charges/interest/collection) while you get help with your debts.

Interest & Charges

Remember, if you don’t meet your contractual credit payments, your debt is likely to increase with interest and charges. You can request that interest and charges be frozen while you are getting debt advice, please visit our web page on breathing space for more information.

You might have already experienced many communications from creditors. This can lead to stress and not opening your post and ignoring arrears letters. But, it is really important to know what is going on with your creditors, take a look at our 'Credit Debt Collection and Debt Collection Agencies' website page to understand more about creditor behaviour.

If you feel that your creditors are harassing you unfairly, you can also visit our 'Creditor Harassment' web page.

Sometimes the creditors shouting the loudest are not always the ones you should pay first. Generally, your priority debts are ones that have bad consequences for you when they are not paid, such as council tax.

Debts might need prioritising for other reasons too, such as guarantor loans with family, take a look at our 'Priority Debts' web page.

You might feel like every debt is a priority, however, not all debts are equal in how they are collected. Take a look at our 'Non-Priority Debts' web page' for information.

We recommend that you start looking into the types of debt options available before a full debt advice appointment. These will be fully advised to you during the debt advice process. You can find out more from our 'Debt Options Overview' web page.

You may also receive a copy of our 'Debt Options Guide' as part of your welcome pack, this has detailed information about the range of debt options. Our 'Debt Advice Topics' web page' also has helpful information.

If you are struggling with an overdrawn account that sucks up all your income, you might want to look at swapping to a basic and safe bank account as soon as possible.

This might mean that charges and interest will increase your debt at first. Your case manager will run through this with you, please visit 'Basic & Safe Bank Accounts'.

We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (the ICO) ZA084533 and have signed the ICO's Your Data Matters Pledge. Find out more about the pledge.

If you have not signed a consent form already, you can use our secure online eConsent or download our Consent Form & Privacy Notice.