1.3. Calculating total debt amount Calculating the total debt amount is an elementary process which involves summing up all the debts that you owe. There are two primary types of debts, the first one being unsecured which includes personal loans and credit cards. The latter is secured debt which is a loan that is secured against an asset. Each form of debt will already have an agreed amount to be paid back, the first step to calculating total debt amount is taking inventory of all unsecured debts and adding on total interest to the final amount that will be paid back. E.g., if you owe a £5000 personal loan and the interest to pay back is £1000, then the total debt amount is £6000. This step is simple and just requires a little time and care to methodically work out the total for each unsecured debt. With secured debts it is slightly more problematic due to the fact that secured loans are often for a specific amount to pay for something, i.e. you would apply for a car loan of £7000, in this case the debt amount is £7000 and the car is the asset, if the debt is to be paid off for any reason, the asset is collected and sold to pay off the loan, if the £7000 loan is not enough to cover the car, in the example rate of a car depreciation, then if resting the car was the only term of the loan, the debtor is technically no longer in debt. It is probable that the only information on a secured loan would be whether the asset should be repossessed if an action has occurred to default the loan. In the case that the asset is to be surrendered or the loan is a general sum granted against an unspecified asset, you would add on the planned repayments with interest, to the current market value of the asset.