Helpful tips for negotiating with creditors

1. Be polite. If you are calm and respectful, showing a willingness to work together, your negotiations will be much more successful. Remember, your creditors do not HAVE to accept your offer so being confrontational will likely get you nowhere.

2. Be honest. Explain your situation fully. Everybody’s circumstances can change and your creditors will understand that. Be aware that your creditors will ask questions and may require proof of what you are telling them. If it is an illness – a doctors note, if it is unemployment or a reduction in income – wage slips…etc. If you are honest from the outset, there is no chance of your story coming unstuck and your negotiations stalling.

3. Do not be persuaded by your creditors to offer more. Decide exactly what you can afford before contacting your creditors and stick to it, even if they are being difficult. You will only run into more problems further down the line if you agree to pay more than you can afford.

4. Be sure to ask your creditors to freeze the interest. If they do not, your debt will carry on growing, making it harder to clear. Do not presume they will do this automatically.

5. Be prepared to contact your creditors more than once. Sometimes you will need to contact them several times before they agree to your offer. If you cannot get them to agree, or you do not feel confident about negotiating with them, you should contact a debt management company who specialise in negotiating with creditors.

For more information on debt management companies read our ’How can a debt management company help me?’ article.

Helpful debt management plan links

Write off debt
Debt management DIY
Payplan debt management company overview
Debt Free Direct overview

Remember, Advance With Finance is a completely free, impartial service. Although the information on this website is provided by industry experts, it should never replace the advice of a debt adviser who understands your individual circumstances.

What is debt consolidation?

Debt consolidation simply means replacing multiple loans with one new loan. If you have debts with different creditors, you can combine them into one loan using a debt consolidation loan.

Find out more about debt consolidation here >>