Think of debt like a beautifully kept car, with regular cleaning and maintenance it’ll remain shiny, reliable and functioning. But with a few months or years of neglect, it’ll become messy and at risk of a breakdown.

With the silly season fast approaching, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas spends.

The allure of shopping centre baubles may send you into a spending frenzy but maxing your credit card at Christmas can saddle you with New Year debt that is hard to pay off.

Debtfix knows most people want to get ahead financially but it’s easy to get swept up in the feeling that you always need to buy the newest, most expensive things to keep up with The Jones.

Nobody wants to be swamped with debt, but many things affect a person’s financial stability and plenty of New Zealanders struggle to pay the bills.

Sadly, in this world of buy now pay later we can often find ourselves in a position where there is simply not enough money to pay others what we owe them.

Debt can completely swamp your lifestyle and, on top of that – there are several confusing terms that make it hard to understand the options when you reach out for a helping hand.

We all have different ideas about what we think should or shouldn’t be kept private, especially when it comes to details about our bank balances and financial debt.