Being faced with debt does cause many people to feel stressed and unhappy. In fact, a quarter of people in debt receive treatment for stress, depression and anxiety from the NHS. Furthermore, the despair caused by financial problems is also a key reason why many couples break up.



However, there is another large group of debtors who adopt a pragmatic attitude to their predicament rather than struggling with feelings of fear and being out of control.

New research carried out by the Clear Start Consumer Debt Service suggests that living with increasingly high levels of debt has become an accepted and normal state of affairs for many people. For these people, debt is considered to be an inevitable and likely permanent feature of everyday life.

The Clear Start studies suggested that 47% of UK consumers say they are happy to have short-term debt to allow them to buy the things they want.

One of the main reasons for this increasingly prevalent attitude to debt is the disappearance of the Puritan Work Ethic. This stressed the importance of saving over spending and its erosion has led to the social acceptability of debt.

The good thing about this is that people with a pragmatic attitude to debt are less reluctant to admit that they have problems and to seek help. After all the reason most frequently given by debtors for not getting help is that they were embarrassed and ashamed about their problems. And when it comes to debt, getting advice from impartial sources as quickly as possible is crucial in resolving problems speedily.

These days there are so many debt solutions; such as the government introduced Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA). The IVA is an alternative to bankruptcy which allows people with debts of over £15,000 to make affordable monthly repayments and have the amount they owe reduced. This means that there are solutions to meet nearly all situations.

By adopting a pragmatic attitude towards debt, people in financial difficulties are able to get the help they need so that they can identify the best solution for them and make a fresh start.