The easy credit available up to 2007 lulled many people into a false sense of security and allowed them to buy things straight away. However, recent times have changed, and I am meeting with more and more people who cannot seem to make ends meet. An example of this is Paul.

Paul is the owner and director of a small joinery company employing 4 people. During the boom years he earned good money and was able to provide a reasonable standard of living to his family. He had some consumer credit but was always able to meet the repayments.

The last few years have been very difficult for him. Work has been harder to come by. The prices he can charge have been pushed down by competition, and he finds it harder to get paid by his customers. He has a house which he has been trying to sell for a couple of years as he struggling with the mortgage and the secured loan he has charged on the property. The house is worth about £120,000, the mortgage is £86,000 and the secured loan is £25,000. He has credit card debt of £25,000.

Paul works very hard but despite this, he is not able to take enough money from his business to look after himself, his wife and six children, four of whom are still at home.

It is sometimes very difficult for people to identify the problem, but talking with Paul it became clear that his problem was within the limited company. He had one too many employees whom he had kept on partially out of the hope that business would get better and partially out of sympathy for the employee. Over the last few years there had been a number of times that Paul had not received any wages to ensure that his employees were paid.

This is the same situation for many directors, but Lines Henry was able to help Paul by reviewing his business to see how it could be made more profitable. As Paul had contacted me relatively early into his financial worries, there were more options available to him. Lines Henry also assisted Paul in putting together a voluntary arrangement to help him manage his personal debt.

If you feel you have struggled for too long give us a call, but remember the earlier you seek professional advice, the more options that may be available to you.

If you require advice, Call Lines Henry on 0800 012 6649.