ST ALFEGE - Links - Debt and money management advice

Money Saving Expert Forum: forums.moneysavingexpert.com - MoneySavingExpert.com was created in February 2003 by Martin Lewis; the forums bring together millions of people to share information on how to get value for money in purchases, insurance, overdrafts and mortgages; others offer kindly and relevant support from their own experience to those trying to deal with debt; there are also free template letters for reclaiming unfair charges.

CCCS: www.cccs.co.uk - a charity specifically devoted to debt management with a lot of online resources. Do not confuse with www.c-c-c-s.com where the cccs stands for Credit Card Consolidation Services.

National Debt Help Line: www.nationaldebtline.co.uk - helpline that provides free, confidential and independent advice on how to deal with debt problems.

Business Debt Line: www.bdl.org.uk - provides free, confidential and independent advice on how to deal with debt problems (for businesses in England, Wales and Scotland).

Citizens Advice Bureaux: www.citizensadvice.org.uk - the Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free, independent and confidential advice, and by influencing policymakers.

Debt Questions: www.debtquestions.co.uk - provides free and impartial debt advice; information about debt management plans, informal arrangements, bankruptcy, letters to creditors and credit repair, debt calculator; legal issues explained.

Church of England's national Matter of Life and Debt campaign: www.cofe.anglican.org/debt - an easy-to-use interactive online resource for working out a household spending budget, emphasising that Christian faith encourages a philosophy of "enough", rather than seeking consolation from over-spending. There are links to specially written prayers for guidance for those working out a household budget, at www.cofe.anglican.org/prayers

Spending Diary: www.spendingdiary.com - a simple way to track and analyse your spending.

Love Food, Hate Waste: www.lovefoodhatewaste.com - a third of the food we buy in the UK ends up being thrown away - tips and recipes on this site to reduce food waste.

What's The Cost: whatsthecost.com - a number of free, easy to use, on-line calculators to help you calculate the cost of various financial products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages. This site contains financial tools to help you get debt free yourself. You'll find tools here to help calculate the real cost of loans, the real cost of borrowing on credit cards, how much you could save by overpaying on your mortgage and more. See, for instance, the Snowball calculator: snowballing is all about paying your debts in the correct order. Generally speaking, you should attempt to pay off the debts with the highest interest rate first. Some people suggest you pay the card with the smallest balance first: that's fine and can help you feel you're getting rid of the debt quicker but it's not the most efficient way. This calculator allows you to enter up to 20 different debts with their associated APRs, and the total amount you want to spend per month servicing your debts, and it'll work out the order in which you should pay them together with the monthly payments.

Credit Action: www.creditaction.org.uk - national money education charity; web site includes money-saving ideas, on-line debt advice, guides for single parents and students, and a "spendometer".

Shelter: www.shelter.org.uk - Shelter believes everyone should have a home. Shelter helps people find and keep a home and campaigns for decent housing for all.

Entitled to: www.entitledto.co.uk - people across the UK are missing out on benefits and tax credits worth more than £5 billion a year. Entitledto can help make sure you get what is yours. Use this simple calculator to work out how much you could claim.

Samaritans: www.samaritans.org - Samaritans provides confidential non-judgemental emotional support, 24 hours a day for people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those which could lead to suicide. Whatever you're going through, whether it's big or small, don't bottle it up. The Samaritans are here for you if you're worried about something, feel upset or confused, or just want to talk to someone. Samaritans is available to anyone in the UK and Ireland. If you live outside of the UK and Ireland, visit Befrienders Worldwide to find your nearest helpline.

ST ALFEGE CHURCH