Letter Builder: the letter to your creditor, written for you
Pick the letter, fill in the gaps, download it as Word or PDF. Twenty-one letters for the most common debt situations — built in your browser. Browse every letter free; unlock once to write and download your own.
1. Choose your letter
Your letter is built on your device and never sent to us — only the contact details you unlock with.
2. Fill in the gaps
Unlock the Letter Builder
Add your details to write and download any of the twenty-one letters, as often as you need. The preview is a sample until you do.
We’ll use these details to contact you about your letter and your debt options, by phone, text or email — you can ask us to stop at any time. We never pass your details to a debt advice firm unless you separately ask us to. Your letter itself never leaves your device. Privacy notice.
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Creditors are not obliged to hold indefinitely, but a short hold while you get free advice is a routine request. If you need legal protection rather than goodwill, read about Breathing Space, which freezes most interest, charges and enforcement for 60 days.
Use section 78 for credit cards, store cards and other running-account credit, and section 77 for loans and other fixed-sum credit. The Act sets the fee at £1, though some requests are exempt from it. It does not apply to council tax, utilities or other debts that are not regulated credit agreements. When to ask a collector to prove the debt.
Use this only for debts you genuinely do not recognise or dispute — not to delay a debt you know is yours. What collectors can and cannot do.
An offer works best backed by a budget. The budget calculator works out what is genuinely available after priority bills, and the repayment offer guide explains how creditors assess it.
The FCA expects forbearance from lenders when customers are in financial difficulty. If your card provider has written about persistent debt, the persistent debt guide explains what the rules require of them.
Do not pay anything until the acceptance is in writing, and pay only from money you can spare without missing priority bills. How much to offer and how it shows on your credit file.
You still have to deal with the debt — this changes how they contact you, not whether they can. The written-contact guide covers what to do if calls continue.
Share only what you are comfortable with. You can describe the effect — for example that phone calls are hard for you — without giving a diagnosis.
Keep a record of every call, visit and message — the creditor contact log does this on your device. If you are threatened or feel unsafe, contact the police. What counts as harassment.
Use this when you do not know who owns a debt or what makes up the balance. It works for any company holding your data, not only lenders. Find My Debts.
Send it before the notice period ends if you can, and check the fees with the bailiff fee checker. Find the bailiff company.
Send a copy to the creditor or council that instructed the firm. Who to complain to.
The council is responsible for the agents it instructs. How to complain about a bailiff.
Include receipts, bank statements or finance agreements in the owner’s name if you have them. Can bailiffs take this?
Keep paying what you offered while you wait. Offer Pack works out a fair offer.
Energy debt and disconnection or prepayment.
Ask early — lenders must consider alternatives before possession action. Mortgage arrears.
Check first with the statute-barred checker. Do not make a payment on an old debt before checking.
For everything a firm holds about you, use the subject access request letter instead.
Never pay until you have the acceptance in writing. Full and final settlement.
Council tax is a priority debt. Keep paying the current year as well as the arrears. Council tax arrears explained, and what a section 13A reduction is.
Your details
Who it is going to
About this letter
3. Your letter
Households in Northern Ireland pay rates, collected by Land & Property Services, rather than council tax. Advice NI gives free, confidential debt advice, including on rates arrears worries.
Before you send it
Read it through as the creditor will. Every figure should be one you can stand behind — an offer you cannot keep does more harm than a smaller one you can. Send it by a method you can prove, keep a copy, and keep every reply. If the creditor answers with a form or a phone call, you can ask for the answer in writing.
A letter is the right tool for one clear step with one creditor. If several creditors are involved, a court claim or enforcement agent has appeared, or you are not sure what you can afford, free debt advice can deal with all of it at once — and costs nothing.
What each letter does
- Hold action — asks for a short pause while you get advice or sort your figures. Goodwill, not legal protection; Breathing Space is the legal version.
- Copy of the agreement — uses sections 77 and 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. While a creditor fails to comply, it is not entitled to enforce the agreement.
- Dispute a debt — puts the burden of evidence where it belongs. More on proving the debt.
- Repayment offer — an affordable monthly figure, or a token payment where nothing is left after priority bills. More on offers.
- Freeze interest — asks for interest and charges to be frozen, reduced or waived. More on freezing interest.
- Full and final settlement — a lump-sum offer made without prejudice, with written acceptance required before payment. More on settlement letters.
- Writing only — asks for contact by letter or email. More on written contact.
- Extra support — tells a creditor about circumstances that make dealing with debt harder, and what would help.
- Stop harassment — a formal complaint about excessive calls, visits, threats or contact with third parties, asking for writing-only contact and a final response, with the Financial Ombudsman as the next step.
- Ask for your data — a subject access request for statements, agreements, call notes and who owns the debt, which the company must normally answer free within one month.
- Bailiff letters — an affordable arrangement offer, a complaint to the enforcement company, a complaint to the council that instructed it, and a notice that goods belong to someone else.
- Creditor letters — ask a creditor to reconsider a rejected offer, ask for a statement of account, confirm settlement terms before paying, and tell a collector a debt is statute-barred.
- Priority bills — an affordable energy payment plan and a mortgage arrears breakdown request.
- Council tax arrangement — proposes a payment plan and asks for reductions by name. England, Wales and Scotland.
You never have to pay for debt advice. MoneyHelper (government-backed), StepChange, National Debtline and Citizens Advice all give free, confidential advice with no obligation.
Common questions
What happens to what I type into the Letter Builder?
The letter itself is built entirely in your browser and is never sent to us or anyone else — names, addresses, amounts and anything you write about your circumstances stay on your device, and the Word and PDF files are created there. The only things we receive are the first name, email and mobile you unlock with, which letter you chose and whether you downloaded it.
Will sending one of these letters stop a creditor contacting me?
A letter cannot force a creditor to agree to anything, but creditors regulated by the FCA are expected to respond fairly to customers in financial difficulty, and a clear written request creates a record. Keep a copy of everything you send and every reply.
Should I send a letter or get advice first?
If there is a court deadline, an enforcement visit, a statutory demand or more than a couple of creditors, free debt advice first is usually the better order of events — an adviser can deal with several creditors at once. The letters here are for people handling a straightforward step themselves.
Do the letters work in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The Consumer Credit Act letters apply across the UK. The council tax letter covers England, Wales and Scotland, and the section 13A hardship request is for England and Wales only. In Northern Ireland, households pay rates rather than council tax, so that letter is switched off.