Financially-worried Brits 'shouldn't stick their heads in the sand'

As millions of Britons could no doubt testify, getting into debt is all too easy.

Getting back into the black, however, is significantly more difficult, with a large proportion of those taking out personal loans, credit cards or consolidation solutions actually getting themselves stuck in a cycle and ending up further in debt.

A recent report published by the TDX Group revealed that some 400,000 people took out new solutions for unsecured debt in 2007 alone, with 58 per cent of these opting to refinance or remortgage their home, while seven per cent felt that taking out an IVA was the best way forward for them.

While there is some debate as to what the best means of getting out of debt is, often depending on an individual's circumstance - with the above options also complemented by simple budgeting or taking on a second job - what cannot be doubted is that money worries will not go away by simply ignoring them.

Significantly, a worryingly large proportion of people will attempt to get out of their financial mess with nothing more than a pen and some paper, often neglecting to seek professional help for their problems.

This is in spite of the fact that research carried out in October last year by IVA.co.uk found that just four per cent of people think that the level of financial education in the UK is adequate or above, while 75 per cent of the people questioned admitted that they had no financial education while at school.

David Kuo, head of personal finance at Fool.co.uk, commented: "One of the dangers that people have is they think they can solve the problems themselves. They think they can hide the problems and use their credit cards that little bit more when in actual fact they haven’t addressed the initial problem at all."

Those Britons having real money troubles should first of all be open and honest about their situation with their banks or lenders.

In a majority of cases, lenders will be willing to consider extending the length of a loan or a bank will extend an overdraft and even a little leeway could make a big difference for most people.

Mr Kuo added: "Taking out secured and unsecured loans, I think, just compounds the problem. Sometimes people are a little misguided about how they solve their problems and they try and throw money at them."

With the current credit crisis largely a result of financial institutions lending people more money than they can afford, many are now being reasonable, meaning troubled borrowers really have nothing to lose from asking for help.