A debt mangement plan can affect your credit rating for up to six years however as most lenders still want to lend they seem happy to overlook lots of negatives on a credit file depending on your circumstances (and I guess how much money they can make out of you!).

If you are going to do something that damages your credit file look into an IVA as you may be able to get rid of all of your debt for less than you owe - same impact on your credit file as a debt management plan.

There are loads of people doing IVAs. I spoke to one that I found in my yellow pages - they told me I didn't need to do an IVA and gave me some letters to send off to my creditors. The letters sorted out all of my problems and they didn't charge me. They were really helpful. Nancollasgreer.