My Son is in Debt How Can I Help?

For free & impartial money advice you can visit MoneyHelper. We work with The Debt Advice Service who provide information about your options. This isn’t a full fact-find, some debt solutions may not be suitable in all circumstances, ongoing fees might apply & your credit rating may be affected.

Are you worried because your son is in debt? Don’t fret; you’ve come to the right place.

Every month, more than 170,000 people come to our website for advice on debt problems, just like yours. We’ve got a lot of knowledge to share with you.

In this article, we’ll help you understand:

How to spot signs of your son being in debt.
How to talk to your son about his debt.
Ways to help your son reduce his debt.
Options for helping your son with his finances.
Legal ways to wipe out some debt.

We understand how hard it can be when someone you care about is struggling with money. Our team has been in your shoes, so we know what you’re going through.

Let’s take this journey together and discuss your options.

Signs of debt problems

It’s not easy to know if your son has a debt problem, especially if they no longer live with you, but there could be some signs that they do. Look out for:

Selling one of their assets without good reason, such as selling their car
Withdrawing from social occasions
Behaviours associated with anxiety and depression
Getting overly angry, especially at sporting events and results
Receiving lots of calls or texts that decrease their mood
Noticing lots of unopened letters at their home

How to ask your son about it

Of course, there is no way of knowing for certain if your son is in debt unless they tell you. It is best to first ask them by sitting them down and asking if something is wrong, rather than directly asking if they have a debt.

This gives your son the opportunity to explain what’s happening and is less threatening to them. You could point out things that make you think something isn’t quite right.

If he doesn’t admit to a debt problem, you could gently ask if he has money problems instead. Don’t try and find out by reading their letters or going through their phone. This could break trust and limit your opportunity to help in the future.

How a debt solution could help

Some debt solutions can:

Stop nasty calls from creditors
Freeze interest and charges
Reduce your monthly payments

A few debt solutions can even result in writing off some of your debt.

Here’s an example:

Situation

Monthly income	£2,504
Monthly expenses	£2,345
Total debt	£32,049

Monthly debt repayments

Before	£587
After	£158

£429 reduction in monthly payments

If you want to learn what debt solutions are available to you, click the button below to get started.

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How can I possibly help?

To help your son out of debt, you might decide to give them money to help pay their debts off. This is a personal decision but you should avoid stretching your own finances or you could create debts yourself. There are ways you can help your son out of debt without giving them money:

Be supportive and positive

Having money problems can cause mental health issues, which can then reduce motivation to improve personal finances, making the debts grow bigger. It’s a vicious cycle that your son may be affected by.

To prevent mental health issues or stop them from getting worse, you should provide emotional support and be positive about their financial future. You may find your son is unenthusiastic about getting out of debt, which could frustrate you, but it’s important to remain positive and encouraging at all times.

Create a monthly budget together

Depression and anxiety could make it hard for your son to take practical steps to manage their debt. You could be proactive in helping them make a monthly budget so they can find ways of saving money and making repayments a little easier. This monthly budget can also be used for the next step you can help with – getting them in touch with debt advice to use a debt solution.

Put your son in touch with debt advice

The most important thing you can do to help your son get out of debt is to get them to speak with a debt advisor at a UK debt charity. These advisers provide confidential and expert support to help people get out of debt in the most suitable way. They will assess your son;’s situation and take into account their monthly budget to recommend a debt solution. In some cases, the adviser may even organise and set up the debt solution on your son’s behalf.

» TAKE ACTION NOW: Fill out the short debt form

Ways to give financial help

There are ways you can help your son or daughter financially without having to give them money. Citizens Advice Scotland uncovered that around 50% of young people in debt believed the cause of their debt was not managing their money effectively. Thus, you can help your child avoid future debts by helping them manage their money better.

One way of achieving this is by teaching them how to budget right. You could help them to create a budget to manage their spending and avoid missing repayments and creating more debt in the future. We have a free budget template sheet you can use. Download it for free here.

Thousands have already tackled their debt

Every day our partners, The Debt Advice Service, help people find out whether they can lower their repayments and finally tackle or write off some of their debt.

I’d recommend this firm to anyone struggling with debt – my mind has been put to rest, all is getting sorted.

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Available debt solutions

There are lots of debt solutions that can help your son get out of debt, such as a Debt Management Plan (DMP) or Debt Relief Order (DRO). They can make repayments affordable without causing financial hardship, and some will even write off some of their debt.

Boost your son’s confidence in getting out of debt by showing them our debt solutions page where we explain the many options available.