During your lifetime there is times when circumstances are beyond your control for instances when you are working all of weekly wage is budgeted and you are able to have so much put aside for living expenses and future bills with a portion left over hopefully at least ten percent put aside to save for something. Whether that is a car, holiday, home or something else that you have wanted for ages and you need to put aside funds to purchase this down the track.

What if for instance you or you and your partner need wages combined to meet your commitments and then one of you had an accident? And if that isn’t bad enough the other person in the relationship is required to be the carer for the sick person until they are well enough to care for themselves on their own.

Still the bills come in and the money isn’t enough to meet them and each time the postman drops off mail with a clear window is enough for you to break out in a sweat as you tremble with the thought of yet another bill.

The first reaction is probably the worst possible action for you to take and that is one of no action. The bills pile up in the drawer as your attention is with your love one and they possibly are too ill for you to talk about the current financial situation.

I have found out the hard way that if you work for yourself and have not taken out some sort of income protection insurance as you thought that is a waste of money as you wouldn’t ever use it I want you to think again…as accidents do happen and they happen at times when we don’t expect them to do at all. What a lot of people don’t think of as “it will never happen to me syndrome” is to take out a power of attorney for a loved one.

We don’t like to think about something unforseen happening but believe me if they are so ill and not able to sign then at least your able to make financial decisions on a day to day basis on behalf of that person until they are in a position to be able to act on their own behalf.

If you have bills that are piled up you need to take a deep breath and get them sorted into priority pile, then individually contact the providers to either request paying the minimum amount each month or delaying the bill until you’re in a better position to pay it. You will need to give a commitment of a date in the future that this will be paid.

Providers although this is not ideal for them they are appreciative of you bringing them up to speed. Ignoring the letters of demand will have them put your account into the hands of debt collectors and this could get nasty with you then having a black mark against your credit file for being a bad debtor.