4 Shocking Reasons You’re Struggling To Pay Your Bills

If you’re reading this, then you probably know the awful feeling of being unable to pay your bills every month. It might not be all your bills, but there could be the odd one or two that you just can’t seem to afford.

Consequently, you miss payments, which ends up leading to loads of other problems. In some cases, you get interest charges and additional fees added to the unpaid bills, which makes them even harder to pay for. As a result, you very quickly find yourself in a debt spiral.

Most people find themselves asking the same question; how did this happen? Why can’t you pay your bills on time? Well, here are a few shocking reasons that will answer this question.

You aren’t being paid enough money

I’m going to assume you have a job, which is why you’re so confused as to why you can’t afford your bills. Well, did you know that there’s a thing called wage theft? This is when your employer is sneakily stealing some of your wages. It’s not blatant, but they could be deducting an hour or so here and there, not paying you for a holiday day, and so on. Basically, they’re trying their best to avoid paying your full wages. As a result, your income suffers. From this, you don’t have enough money coming into your account to cover all your bills. So, make sure you check your payslip every month and count up all the hours that you work. Ensure everything adds up and that you’re not a victim of a dodgy employer that’s stealing your earnings.

You’re being charged too much

In some cases, you struggle to pay bills as they’re way more than you initially expected. We’ve all signed up for contracts with different utility providers, phone companies, and so on. They give us a monthly fee, which is what attracts us to them. But, every month, they keep adding on extra fees and charges that you weren’t made aware of before you signed up. So, instead of the bill being a manageable amount, it’s now considerably more than you expected. As a result, you can’t afford it and you end up adding more fees and charges on top of all this. My advice is to read all the small print in the terms and conditions before signing any contract. This avoids situations where a company charges extra and then tells you it was in the T’s & C’s and you simply missed it. If there’s no word of additional charges, then you can seek legal guidance to get your money back as they’re illegally charging extra.

Your bill has gone up

Similarly, some people struggle to pay a bill because it went up in price. A lot of companies will raise the costs of their service over time. Usually, you get an email or letter telling you that this is happening. But, it could easily be missed – or the email could fall into your junk folder. So, unbeknownst to you, your bill goes from being manageable to being more expensive. This happens a lot with gym memberships as they increase the monthly rate quite often. My advice is to always check your direct debits and contracts to see if any monthly bills have been raised. If they have, then you may need to cancel them as they could be too expensive now.

Someone is stealing your money

Lastly, the most shocking reason you’re struggling to pay your bills is because someone is taking your money. Loads of people are the victims of identity theft, and it’s relatively easy for someone to get your bank details nowadays. It’s possible that someone has been using your details to pay for loads of different things without you or your bank knowing. This drains your cash reserves, making it impossible to pay all your bills. The only thing you can do is check your bank statements as often as possible. Look through the transactions and see if anything is suspicious. If you notice payments that you don’t remember authorizing, then contact the fraud detection team at your local bank to look into things for you. They will help catch the culprit, get your money back, and secure your accounts.

When you can’t pay your bills, it’s easy to assume that things are your fault. However, it could be down to one of these four shocking reasons. This is why it makes sense to always stay on top of your personal finances. Check your direct debits, make sure no charges are being added – or the price is being raised – and always go through your bank statements. Additionally, check your payslips to make sure you’re being paid the right amount!