Pregnancy and Debt Management

Finding out you're pregnant can be one of the happiest moments of your life, but the costs of preparing for the birth of your child can very quickly add up and take up a huge part of your budget.

So if you're in this situation this guide could help clear a few issues up for you.

Will I be able to carry on making payments towards my debt management plan?

The answer to this question depends on how much your circumstances have changed since you found out the good news. It's also important to note that your circumstances are subject to further change - as you may have to stop working for at least the final few months of your pregnancy.

If you know you'll be going back to work after you've given birth, your lenders may be willing to agree to a payment holiday until then.

However, if it looks as though you won't be able to contribute towards your debt management plan for quite some time (if, for example, you're living alone and will have to stay at home to look after your baby for the foreseeable future), you might need to end your debt management plan and consider your other options.

There are several options you could look into - we won't go into them here - but you could find out more by reading this article on debt management and pregnancy.

I'm not on a debt management plan, but I'm not sure my debt management skills are good enough to cope with the extra costs, what could I do?

If you're not actually on a debt management plan, but you're worried that your debt management skills (i.e. your ability to manage your debts on your own) might not be good enough to cope with all those extra costs you'll be facing, there are several things you could do that might make your situation a little more comfortable.

For example, you could cut back on your non-essential expenditure to save a bit of money (that could be used to save up or put towards your debts each month).

Note: your non-essential expenditure is defined as money spent on items you don't actually need - meals out, for example, or gym memberships.

It might be a good idea to look at your spending habits for one month and work out how much money you could have saved if you didn't buy those things you didn't need. You may find it's much easier to cut back on your non-essential expenditure if you've got a figure in front of you!