Debt Advice in Cardiff and The Vale of Glamorgan
Residents of Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan can contact several local debt help services.
Worry and stress related to debt problems can be fixed, even if that feels impossible now.
Please read on for information about your local debt advice agencies and their specialist services.
Bright Oak
Bright Oak is a commercial debt advice and debt management plan provider. We’re authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to deliver these services.
Bright Oak launched in Cardiff Bay in 2007. We since relocated to Penarth and then to our current location in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan.
You can read more about our people, history, and standards here. Our debt advisers are exam-qualified, experienced, and friendly.
We advise on the main UK debt solutions including:
• Debt management plan
• IVA
• Debt relief order
• Bankruptcy
• Debt Consolidation
As well as serving customers in the Cardiff & Vale area we help people throughout all parts of the UK via our telephone debt advisory service.
Our office at Cardiff House, Priority Business Park, Barry, CF63 2AW has private meeting rooms and plenty of parking. Face-to-face customer meeting are on hold temporarily as a result of Covid-19.
For money advice and debt management solutions please get in touch.
Tel: 029 2049 2661 or 0800 043 7222
Cardiff & Vale Citizens Advice
Citizens Advice operates locally from hubs at Cardiff Central Library and Broad Street in Barry.
The Cardiff hub has 14 outreach sites based in different parts of the city. The Barry hub has outreach sites in Llantwit Major and Penarth.
Cardiff & Vale Citizens Advice also provides assistance with connected financial issues like benefits, employment, and housing.
This service is currently telephone-based.
Tel: 03444 77 20 20.
Riverside Advice
Riverside Advice operates from 41a Lower Cathedral Road, CF11 6LW. It provides assistance with debt, housing issues, and welfare benefits.
Riverside Advice also works on the fuel debt advice project in Wales. They can help you to make your home more fuel efficient and to apply for a grant to write-off fuel arrears.
Tel: 029 2034 1577
The Speakeasy is a legal advice charity. It's located at 166 Richmond Road, Roath, CF24 3BX.
It offers free legal help across Cardiff & the Vale of Glamorgan tackling issues including debt, housing, and employment law.
Tel: 029 2045 3111
Insolvency practitioners assist insolvent people and companies.
Most insolvency practitioners aren’t FCA regulated meaning that they cannot offer general debt advice. They can offer advice about personal insolvency if an IVA, bankruptcy, or DRO appear to be a suitable debt management solution.
As well as operating portfolios of IVAs they may be assigned the management of individual bankruptcy cases by the Insolvency Service (based at 3rd Floor, Companies House, Crown Way, Cardiff, CF14 3ZA).
Cardiff-based insolvency practitioners handling IVA work include:
• Jones Giles & Clay
• PJG Recovery
• Whiteoak Morris
Expert advice on housing law can be obtained via Shelter Cymru.
Though temporarily suspended as a result of Covid-19, Shelter Cymru usually provides face-to-face housing advice in both Cardiff and Barry.
Tel: 0800 049 5495
National debt advisory services provide free debt help and free debt management plans.
Contact the Money Advice Service on 0800 138 7777 to be connected with suitable national debt helplines that assist enquirers throughout the UK.
A number of loan brokers are located in the local area and can arrange debt consolidation lending products.
Consolidation can be an effective way to reduce debt servicing costs but it’s a potentially risky strategy for the borrower. The risk to homeowners of securing debt against their property is especially acute.
Lenders also consider debt consolidation to be risky. Cardiff & Vale Credit Union don’t offer their cheapest loans for credit consolidation purposes for example.
The Money Advice Service recommends getting expert debt advice before consolidating debts into a single new loan.
The burden of personal debt is high in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan. Cardiff in particular recently finished second in a list of UK cities with the highest proportion of residents in debt.
It can be difficult to make the first step of reaching out for help and advice with debt. Advisers understand this difficulty and will go out of their way to treat you with empathy and sympathy.
There’s always a solution to a debt problem, so please don’t hesitate to get expert help.
Author: Andrew Graveson
Qualified Debt Adviser & Bright Oak’s Founder
Page Last Updated: 06/07/2020
