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What if a creditor refuses my offer?

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.

• If they still refuse, seek expert advice from an advice agency such as Citizens Advice Bureau or National Debtline.

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.