When the UK government brought in the financial product known as the Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) a few years ago it was thought to be an acceptable way for individuals to sort out their insolvency problems and also to write off credit card debt to a certain extent. Under an IVA up to 70% of personal debt may be written of immediately, and then the balance paid off monthly, usually over five years (three years in Scotland, where they are known as Protected Trust Deeds). The procedure is handled by a qualified Insolvency Practitioner and creditors are not allowed to even contact the person owing the money as soon as the IVA is drawn up.

But changes in the consumer laws now mean that there are two quite legitimate weapons people have at their disposal when they want to write off credit card debt.

Not many people are aware that around 70% of all credit agreements taken out before April 6th 2007 are unenforceable because the agreements were improperly drafted, lacking in what are known as prescribed terms. This means that the lenders have not adhered to the provisions in the law, and it is the Consumer Credit Act of 1974 which allows borrowers to challenge all such credit agreements. People who wish to write off credit card debt, or any kind of debt, can now use both these means to great effect.

Taken both together, these two quite separate things - the IVA and the credit agreement annulment - can realistically mean that anyone with a debt burden can write off a total of 90 percent of what they owe, leaving only 10 percent to be paid off over a number of years and at a rate they can afford.

People who just take out an IVA are effectively spending the next few years paying off debts that were unenforceable in the first place, therefore could be written off in their entirety. Why spend years paying off a debt which is unenforseable? Using the two-stage debt relief method the debt is first whittled down to only those credit agreements which are valid and legal in the sense that they are enforceable in law, and this will leave around 30 percent of the debt. The second stage involves using the IVA - or in cases where an IVA is not suitable or practicable a Debt Management Program may be put in place - to immediately write off a further 70% (or thereabouts) of the remainder of the debt, thus reducing the burden of the original debt to about 10% of what it was.

All this means that, for the first time, people are able to legally write off credit card debt, store cards, car loans and all sorts of loan agreements without the shame of bankruptcy and the trauma of undergoing great personal events like losing one's home. In fact, there needn't be any huge change in a person's lifestyle when using these procedures.