‘Will I lose my house?’ is the biggest single question people ask Payplan’s helpline after they’ve been made redundant. The free debt advice and solutions company helps over 100,000 people every year and while losing a job is a terrifying experience, Payplan says it doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to have your home repossessed. Help is at hand.

Simon contacted Payplan two years ago. The 39-year-old had a good job and was in control of his finances – in 2009 he was made redundant and struggled to keep on top of his payments, building up £22,000 of debt. Despite finding more work, Simon had to take a big drop in salary that left him unable to meet all his repayments. Simon is now in a debt management plan and says he can see light at the end of the tunnel - a day when he will be debt free again. Simon’s story is very typical of thousands of calls into Payplan’s helpline.

Payplan has welcomed the “Stop the Debt Rogues” campaign launched this week in the Daily Mirror. The Mirror’s campaign calls for a clamp down on the widespread bad practice by fee-charging debt management companies – with an estimated 400 firms operating in the UK, many are ripping off consumers and not paying their creditors. All but three of these 400 firms charge fees, and the industry is growing. In 2010, it was estimated that 250,000 new Debt Management Plans (DMP) were taken out, and the total cost in fees to consumers is likely to amount to over £1/4 billion. 

Numbers of parents seeking help to resolve their children’s student debt issues are rising, according to national free to client debt solutions and advice company Payplan.

The company’s phone and website help lines have seen a worrying increase in cries of help from anxious parents keen to resolve their children’s financial crises. Even grandparents are being called upon to help ease this financial burden, according to a retirement equity release company, with the average ‘Bank of Gran and Grandad’ paying out £23,328 to help families keep on top of costs, see link below.

Credit card debt and money owing on unsecured loans - on top of the student loan - are the main issues facing graduates and their families.

February 15, 2011 (Investorideas.com Newswire)- Investorideas.com and its non-profit newswire interviews Illinois based musician, Dan Ross, as he nears his date for his 2000 mile walk across America for peace. Investorideas.com finds out what motivates a musician known as 'Goofy Guitarist' on YouTube.com to walk for the people of Pine Ridge.

On April 15, Dan Ross begins his walk from Chicago, Illinois to the Oregon coast.

Funds raised from his walk will be donated to the youth of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the non-profit ONE Spirit.

Pine Ridge is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in South Dakota. Pine Ridge is the eighth-largest reservation in the United States, and is also sadly, the poorest