Balance your expenses and income

• Pay bills in order of importance

1. Housing: rent, electricity and water
2. Other essentials (food, telephone, day-care, insurances)
3. Then rest of the bills

It is advisable to pay small bills and debts first, because they accrue comparatively more additional expenses during debt collection.

Find out about possibilities to receive social benefits. Be prepared for the fact that benefit payments may not be on your account immediately.
Kela (The Social Insurance Institution of Finland)
Social assistance
Church aid (church social fund)

Many public services benefits, as well as taxes, are calculated according to your income. Ask if they can be adjusted to your income. For instance,
Tax Administration
Housing benefits

You can negotiate more time to pay bills or a loan

Dealing with financial difficulties is routine work for the bank and company personnel nowadays and co-operation is appreciated. Request a longer term payment plan and freezing the interest for late payments.talk to your debtors about possibilities to re-organise your debts
negotiate a new payment plan for your credit

If you cannot pay the bill,

• late fees and collection charges will increase your expenditure
• after two payment reminders the matter may be referred to a collection agency
• you may be evicted from your rented accommodation
• electricity may be disconnected
• telephone may be disconnected
• credit card bill may result in bad credit record

Seek help for your debt problems

The council finance and debt advisors help, for instance, with mapping out the financial situation and negotiations with debtors.
The council finance and debt advisors

The Guarantee Foundation offers a guarantee for a restructuring debt borrowed from a bank for private persons who are in debt and financial crisis. With this loan you can manage your debts and put an end to indebtedness.
The Guarantee Foundation

The last alternative to solve the excessive indebtedness is to apply for debt management for a private person from your local magistrate's court. Finance and debt advisors help with arbitration negotiations and with planning a proposal for settlement.
Debt restructuring