The information required in this box is the total amount of money that you owe to your unsecured creditors.

So, add up all the money that you owe on all of your:

Credit cards, Store cards, Catalogues, or Bank loans. You can also include any outstanding bank overdrafts, any unpaid mobile telephone bills or any unpaid and overdue VAT or Income Tax.

Do not include any hire purchase loans, or loans secured against your property.

When you have added all the debts together, put the total into Box 1

A creditor is someone you owe money to.

So in this box we need the amount of different companies or people that you owe money to.

If you have 2 or 3 debts with 1 company, then only count it as 1 creditor.

When you are sure you have the correct amount please put the number into Box 2

... Box 3

The Debt Detective will need to know whether or not you own a property.

This is because owning a property, especially a property with equity within it, could have an enormous impact on the most suitable solution available for you to become debt free.

So, if you are in rented accommodation or lodging, and do not own an equity share in any property, then leave Box 4 as NO.

However, if you do own a property, or a part share of a property, either in the UK or abroad, then change the answer in Box 4 to YES.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a property, and have answered Box 4 with YES.

Please tell the Debt Detective the approximate value of your property, which would be the amount you could expect to be able to sell the property for.

Enter the amount into Box 4a.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a property, and have answered Box 4 with YES.

Please tell the Debt Detective the approximate value of your outstanding mortgage, which is the amount of money you have still to pay on the mortgage before you will own the property.

Enter the amount into Box 4b.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a property, and have answered Box 4 with YES.

If your mortgage is the only secured loan against your property, and you do not have any other loans secured against it then leave the answer in Box 5 as NO

If you have borrowed money by releasing some of the equity out of your property, and the loan is in addition to your mortgage, then change the answer in Box 5 to YES.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a property, and have answered Box 5with YES.

If you do have a loan secured against your property, in addition to your mortgage, then please put the value of the secured loan in Box 5a.

The Debt Detective will use the answer to this question to calculate whether you can expect an increase in the amount of money you can afford to pay towards your debts.

Any future changes in your ability to pay more money to your debts might alter which debt solutions are available to you.

If you are paying for a Hire Purchase loan agreement, which is a loan secured against the asset you bought with the money, for example a car, a caravan or a motorbike, then please change the answer in Box 6 to YES.

If you do not have a Hire Purchase loan agreement, then leave Box 6 at NO.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a Hire Purchase loan agreement, and have answered Box 6 with YES.

The Debt Detective does not need to know the size of the original loan, but just how much you are paying each month.

Please put the value of your monthly repayments into Box 6a.

You will only need to answer this question if you have a property, and have answered Box 6 with YES.

The Debt Detective will use the answer to this question to calculate when you can expect an increase in the amount of money you can afford to pay towards your debts.

Calculate how many monthly payments remain until the loan is fully repaid, and then enter that number into Box 6b.