Feel out of control when it comes to money? You’re not alone. Nearly half of all Scots lack basic knowledge about their personal finances, according to a major survey.

The poll of more than 1,100 people in Scotland found 40 per cent do not know their bank balance to within £50, a fifth rely on credit, one in seven are over-indebted, and fewer than one in three have financial goals and plans to achieve them.

What’s more, around half of young Scots are falling behind on payments from their bank account.

The Financial Capability Board, which published the findings last month, is now calling on the Scottish government, charities and financial providers to do more to educate the public about money.

Allison Barnes, Scotland Manager at the Money Advice Service, said: “It is worrying to see that many Scottish adults are not confident managing their money and failing to deal with issues around debt. However, the findings do show that Scots are marginally more in control of their finances and prepared for potential difficulties than the rest of the UK.”

She added: “We are making good progress in Scotland and have recently announced our continuation of free debt advice provision through the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The Financial Capability Strategy will make sure that product providers, charities, government and all other third parties are working towards a shared ambition to better support people with their day-to-day financial need.”

The service ran a ‘Survive January’ campaign to help people better manage their short-term cashflow following the festive period, which always sees a surge in debt inquiries.

Unfortunately, many consumers will be back in the red this week soon after receiving their January pay. A survey of 2,000 monthly earners in the UK has shown that nearly one in five were back in debt by February 4, with payday loans, credit cards and family loans all contributing to the problem.

Dr. Thomas Webb, a social psychologist at the University of Sheffield, said: “Just like in the run-up to Christmas, where people are often tempted to bury their heads in the sand and not think about money, people may assume that January's pay day will go further than it actually does while not confronting reality.”

Here are my tips for dealing with debt all the year round.

Save by paying down debt: Treat any debt as an opportunity to earn the best rate on your spare cash. The more expensive the debt, the higher priority it should be for what you can save to repay. If you have a mortgage, it is probably the cheapest debt you have, and paying in extra can make a big difference.

Shop around: Banks love to promote loans to their customers. If you accepted a £5000 loan from your bank over five years at 8.7 per cent, perhaps to buy a car, you would pay £100 a month more - that’s £6000 more altogether - than if you hunted down a deal on the market at 5.3 per cent.

Go for a challenger: The small and mid-sized ‘challenger banks’ are well worth considering if you’re looking to borrow cheaply. A survey last year found the cost of borrowing £3000 over two years was between £575 and £692 at the so-called ‘big four’, but at the challenger banks, it ranged between £362 and £456.

Go social: Borrowing that same amount with a big social or peer-to-peer lender such as Zopa or Ratesetter brought the cost down even further – to between £177 and £214. Peer-to-peer lending enables borrowers to bypass the banks by lending to savers, and the number of borrowers using P2P almost doubled last year to 273,000, according to figures out this week.

Transfer a balance: Take the opportunity, if you can, to transfer your credit card balance to a no-interest deal and give yourself up to three years to pay it off. It could cost you as little as 2 per cent in fees, meaning a balance worth £3000 would cost you only £60.

Set a repayment plan: Remember that a zero per cent promotional rate on a credit card jumps overnight to almost 20 per cent at the end of the . Draw up a plan for paying it all off. If you are left with £2500 to repay, at 17per cent, paying in £240 a month would take a year and cost you £183 in interest. Paying in £60 a month would take over five years and cost you £1183 in interest – almost half the amount you borrowed.

Watch the fees: This is especially the case with mortgages, where a seemingly attractive low fixed rate deal can be a giveaway for a high arrangement fee. Also check whether interest is charged on a daily basis, which will be better for you than if charged on a monthly or annual basis.

Promotions: Don’t be dazzled by promotional gimmicks. Banks have been offering air miles and even holidays as well as cashback deals to attract new mortgage business. But it is the combination of rates and fees that matters.

Credit check: Any application for credit will show up on your credit record, which is shared among financial institutions. Even if you are only browsing product, always look for a ‘no record’ guarantee on any search.

Iona Bain is author of Spare Change - Better Ways to Manage Your Money - published by Hardie Grant on February 11.