Hardship Request Checklist
Handle a customer in genuine financial hardship with fairness and a workable arrangement, balancing compassion with a realistic plan to recover the debt.
What this checklist covers
- Respond to a hardship claim with care
- Understand the customer's real position
- Agree a fair, sustainable arrangement
- Keep the arrangement documented and monitored
- Know when hardship handling reaches its limits
6 min
Before you start
A hardship request deserves a measured, humane response — but also a practical one, because the debt still needs a path to repayment. Set the right footing first.
- Acknowledge the request promptly and without judgement.
- Pause aggressive collections while you assess the situation.
- Ask, sensitively, for enough information to understand their capacity to pay.
- Confirm the debt itself is correct and not actually in dispute.
Treating people in hardship fairly is both the right thing to do and consistent with conduct expectations around reasonable, considerate contact. This is general information, not legal advice.
Assess and agree an arrangement
Work toward an arrangement that is realistic for the customer and still recovers the debt over time.
- Get a clear picture of what the customer can genuinely afford, and how often.
- Consider options: a payment plan, a short pause, or in some cases a reduced settlement.
- Set instalments at a level they can actually sustain.
- Decide whether to pause or waive interest to make the plan workable.
- Put the full arrangement in writing and have the customer confirm it.
- Agree what happens if circumstances change again.
Need a structure for the plan? The Merion tools include payment-arrangement templates.
Monitor and stay flexible
Hardship situations can shift, so keep the arrangement under gentle review.
- Diarise each instalment and check it lands.
- Stay approachable, so the customer tells you early if things change rather than just defaulting.
- Be willing to revisit the plan if their position genuinely worsens.
- Acknowledge the final payment and confirm the debt cleared in writing.
A flexible, well-monitored plan recovers far more from a struggling customer than aggressive pressure ever will.
Common mistakes
Hardship is mishandled at both extremes — too harsh or too soft. Avoid these.
- Dismissing a genuine hardship claim and pressing for immediate full payment.
- Agreeing instalments so low the debt never realistically clears.
- Leaving the arrangement informal, with nothing in writing.
- Failing to monitor, so a quietly collapsed plan is noticed far too late.
- Applying pressure that, given the circumstances, crosses into unfair conduct.
Fair, realistic, written and monitored is the balance that works for hardship cases.
Key takeaways
- Respond to genuine hardship with care and pause aggressive chasing.
- Agree a realistic, sustainable arrangement and put it in writing.
- Monitor the plan and stay flexible if circumstances change.
- Balance compassion with a genuine path to recovering the debt.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to accept a hardship arrangement?
You are not obliged to agree to any specific terms, but handling genuine hardship considerately is both fair and consistent with conduct guidance. A realistic arrangement usually recovers more than aggressive pressure on someone who genuinely cannot pay.
Should I waive interest for a hardship customer?
It is often worth it. Pausing or waiving interest can make a plan affordable and secure steady repayment of the principal. Whatever you decide, set it out clearly in writing so both sides understand the arrangement.
What if the customer's hardship is not genuine?
Ask, sensitively, for enough information to understand their position. If the claim does not hold up, you can return to normal collections on a documented basis. Avoid assuming bad faith without looking, as that risks both unfairness and complaints.
Work the checklist, then get paid
Use the free Invoice Generator, then let Merion recover anything that goes unpaid — commission-only.