Sometimes a creditor will refuse to
accept an offer of payment and demand more than you can afford.
They may refuse
to freeze the interest. If a creditor accepts your offer, double-check
that the interest has been frozen if they do not state this in
their letter.
Don't give up; you can usually persuade creditors
to accept your offer of payment by using the following steps:
Start paying the amount you have
offered anyway as a gesture of goodwill.
Write to the creditor again and
ask them to reconsider. Tell them your offer is reasonable
and all you can afford.
If some of your creditors have
accepted your offer of payment, and frozen the interest, tell
this to the creditors who have refused.
If a collector
calls for your payment don't pay more than the amount you
have offered.
Most creditors are members of a
trade association and have agreed to a code of practice. The
Codes usually say creditors should be sympathetic in cases
of
genuine difficulty.
Creditors may ask you to fill in
their own budgeting form instead. Ask them to accept your own
Personal Budget as this has all the information they need.
Get expert advice if they still
refuse, you will find contact information the Resources
section of this site.
They may also ask for extra information such
as wage slips or letters from other creditors. You may want to
help with reasonable requests but if the creditor wants proof
of all your bills, point out this would not be asked for by a
court.
Tip: The offers of payment in your personal budget
are fair to all your creditors and the most you can afford. If
you allow one creditor to persuade you to pay more than is shown,
you will not have enough for your outgoings and other creditors.
