{"id":9802,"date":"2026-09-15T16:34:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/help-with-living-costs\/managing-money-savings-and-debt\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T12:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:04:23","slug":"managing-money-savings-and-debt","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/help-with-living-costs\/managing-money-savings-and-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Managing money, savings and debt"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"page-section clearfix text-dark\" id=\"block_acf-block-6abf8fb48ec38\"><div class=\"page-inner\"><div class=\"grid-container\"><div class=\"grid-x grid-margin-x\"><div class=\"medium-12 large-12 cell\"><div class=\"page-innerblocks\">\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Managing money, savings and debt<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-d5be3348 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);flex-basis:75%\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re finding it difficult to make ends meet, free advice and support is available to help you manage your money, increase your income and deal with debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section-heading\">Budgeting and managing your money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creating a budget can help you understand what money you have coming in, what you&#8217;re spending, and where you may be able to reduce costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Useful tools and guidance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensadvice.org.uk\/debt-and-money\/budgeting1\/work-out-your-budget\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Citizens Advice budgeting tool<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyhelper.org.uk\/en\" rel=\"noopener\">MoneyHelper budgeting guides and calculators<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section-heading\">Need help increasing your income?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check whether you&#8217;re entitled to benefits, grants and other financial support using<a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/benefits-checker\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"9867\"> benefits checkers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section-heading\">Saving for the future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re on a low income and receive certain benefits, you may be eligible for the government&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/get-help-savings-low-income\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/get-help-savings-low-income\" rel=\"noopener\">Help to Save<\/a> scheme, which rewards regular saving with a bonus from the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You may also be able to get a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/budgeting-help-benefits\/eligibility\" rel=\"noopener\">Budgeting Loan or Budgeting Advance<\/a> to help with essential one-off expenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section-heading\">Debt advice and support<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re worried about debt or struggling to pay your bills, don&#8217;t wait until the situation becomes unmanageable. Free and confidential debt advice is available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Get help from:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cabdevon.org.uk\/advice\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Citizens Advice<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nationaldebtline.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">National Debtline<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyhelper.org.uk\/en\" rel=\"noopener\">MoneyHelper<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/pay-off-debts\" rel=\"noopener\">GOV.UK &#8211; check how you can deal with your debts<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading section-heading\">Avoid illegal money lending<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re struggling financially, it can be tempting to borrow money from informal lenders. Illegal money lenders, sometimes known as loan sharks, often charge extremely high interest rates and may use intimidation or threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you need help, free and confidential debt advice is available from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.citizensadvice.org.uk\/debt-and-money\/borrowing-money\/types-of-borrowing\/loans\/loan-sharks\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Citizens Advice<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nationaldebtline.org\/\" rel=\"noopener\">National Debtline<\/a>. You can also report illegal money lending and get support through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stoploansharks.co.uk\/\" rel=\"noopener\">England Illegal Money Lending Team<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:25%\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group quick-links is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading quick-links__heading has-white-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1\" style=\"font-size:1.1rem\">Looking for more support?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list quick-links__list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/benefits-checker\/\">Benefits checker<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/help-with-living-costs\/housing-and-council-tax-support\/\">Housing and Council Tax support<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/help-with-living-costs\/energy\/\">Energy support<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/#supportarea\">Help and support in your area<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-border-color has-white-background-color has-background is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-54d3af74 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"border-color:#d8e1e8;border-width:1px;border-top-left-radius:10px;border-top-right-radius:10px;border-bottom-left-radius:10px;border-bottom-right-radius:10px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--40);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:1.1rem\">Need urgent help?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citizens Advice Devon can help you understand your options and support your application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\" style=\"margin-top:0;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a onclick=\"dataLayer.push({&amp;apos;buttonEvent&amp;apos;: &amp;apos;Information page&amp;apos;});\" class=\"wp-block-button__link has-default-font-size has-custom-font-size wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cabdevon.org.uk\/\" rel=\"noopener\">Contact Citizens Advice<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"parent":9183,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-landing.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-9802","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-14 06:21:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9802"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10147,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9802\/revisions\/10147"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/cost-of-living\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}