Get help with debt, bailiffs, and money worries

Priority debts are those where failing to pay can have the most severe consequences — including losing your home, having your energy cut off, or going to prison. They include rent or mortgage arrears, council tax, court fines, gas and electricity, child maintenance, and income tax. Non-priority debts such as credit cards, personal loans, and overdrafts cannot lead to those outcomes, though creditors can still take you to court. You should always pay priority debts first, even if non-priority creditors are pressing you harder.

Seeking free debt advice from organisations like Citizens Advice, StepChange, or National Debtline does not itself affect your credit score. However, formal debt solutions such as a Debt Relief Order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement, or bankruptcy will appear on your credit file and have a significant negative impact for six years. Breathing Space is not recorded on your credit file by the scheme itself, though individual creditors may note the account status.

Generally no. Bailiffs (also called enforcement agents) collecting most types of consumer debt — including most council tax arrears — cannot force entry on a first visit. They may only enter if you let them in, or if they have already gained peaceable entry and are returning to collect goods they have "controlled". There are narrow exceptions for certain types of debt such as some criminal fines and HMRC debts. If bailiffs behave unlawfully, you can complain to the creditor and the bailiff firm, and take the matter to the county court or a local authority.

Several organisations offer free, confidential debt advice in the UK. StepChange Debt Charity (0800 138 1111) provides online tools and phone advice. National Debtline (0808 808 4000) offers phone and online guidance. Citizens Advice has offices across the UK with trained advisers. The Money Advice Service and MoneyHelper also provide impartial guidance. Always use a free, regulated service — claims management companies may charge you for help you can get free of charge.

Most negative information — including defaults, missed payments, and County Court Judgments — stays on your credit file for six years from the date the account defaulted or the judgment was entered, regardless of whether you pay the debt during that period. After six years the information is automatically removed. For statute-barred debts (those where the limitation period has expired), creditors cannot take you to court, but the debt still exists and may still appear on your file until the six-year period from default has elapsed.