Debt Management Fees

The debt advice sector is made up of charging and charitable organisations. Women in Debt is a charging organisation, although we aim to keep our fees to the minimum, whilst ensuring that we can pay our bills and continue to be here for you over the long term.

Our expert advice is free, in that we do not charge for our time or ask you to phone us on a premium rate number. Nor do we charge if we refer you to one of our family of advisers, who specialise in more technical solutions; instead, they pay us a commission, as a thank you for the time we have spent determining which solution is most appropriate for you.

In fact, we only charge if you enter into a debt management plan with Women in Debt. This is because most of the cost of setting up your tailor-made plan, including the administration and contacting your creditors, is incurred by us during the first few months. So to cover our upfront commitment, we take your first monthly payment and, no matter how complicated your case, we won’t charge more than this to set up your plan.

Then, in order to fund our ongoing work with your creditors, we will charge 15% of your regular monthly payment as an administration fee, which is subject to a minimum of £30 and a maximum of £100. The balance of your payment then goes directly towards paying off your creditors.

You may well ask how non-charging organisations generate enough income to survive. Well, many of these debt help charities and non-charging agencies are actually funded by the very creditors with whom they are negotiating, often receiving ‘voluntary’ contributions from them. They might also request a contribution from you on completion of your plan.

In contrast, we are paid by you, just as you might pay for legal or financial advice, and we work solely for you, the client, and endeavour to represent your very best interests. At the same time, through being paid to manage your account, we are subject to stringent guidelines, imposed for operating under our Consumer Credit Licence.