Considering that money owed on credit cards is causing such money misery for UK citizens, it's no suprise that millions of people are looking for any conceivable method to get rid of these debts.

The most common ways are the old standbys of debt consolidation and debt management, with possibly bankruptcy in extreme cases. Recently, however, a new method is being touted when it comes to clearing credit card debts: the illegal credit agreement tactic.

This supposedly works by exploiting a loophole in the law that means that unless a credit agreement abides by a list of strict rules, then it is invalid and thus can't be implemented legally. The effective outcome is that any debt accrued under one of these agreements cannot be collected, and so doesn't have to be paid. There are plenty of web sites claiming that it is possible to speedily and easily arrange for your debts to be made uncollectable like this, but is this practical?

The first thing to be aware of is that only agreement documents drawn up prior to April 2007 have any chance of being declared unenforceable under this loophole. If this condition is met, there are a few reasons why the agreement may be invalid, including not being signed by both you and the issuer, the APR not being understandably stated, or copies of the original documents not being available on asking for them.

Lawyers specialising in consumer credit law will check over your credit agreement copies for you to see if they are all enforceable. But here lies the gotcha: you usually have to pay a fee before someone will even look at your case, whether or not you have any prospect at all of having your debts written off. If you have several agreements to check, this can make it a pricey and possibly unproductive exercise.

There's also the fact that some less honest suppliers of these services exaggerate the prospect of success, which many dispassionate commentators say are not as good as they are being described.

So what's the deal here? By all means ask your credit card companies for replicas of your agreements and examine them yourself, but before going ahead with anything else talk to a free debt advisor. If you suspect you might have an unenforcable agreement, then look for a company prepared to work on a no win no fee basis, rather than spending money upfront in the mere hope of escaping your debt problems.

Visit Debt Advice UK to find out more on how to legally clear credit cards.