8. Choosing a strategy for non-priority debts
You should know from the financial statement whether or not there is any available income or capital and of any likely changes in the client’s circumstances. At this stage, you should use these factors to decide a strategy for all non-priority debts.1 See also L Oliver, ‘Using Deficit Budgets’, Adviser 180 See Chapter 9 for more information. The starting point should be what the client wants, but you must give her/him the full range of available options so that s/he can make an informed choice. All your advice should be accurate, timely, appropriate to the client’s individual situation and in her/his best interests. Where the clients are members of a couple, a strategy which is suitable for one member of the couple may be unsuitable for the other member, requiring different strategies to be considered.
If the chosen strategy is to offer payments to creditors, advise the client to start making any payments offered immediately and not wait for confirmation from the creditor. If the creditor does not confirm that interest/charges have been frozen, press the creditor for a decision. If the creditor refuses to freeze interest/charges, ask for specific reasons and either urge the creditor to reconsider the decision or review the strategy with the client. If you think the creditor is not treating the client ‘with forbearance and due consideration’ in line with Financial Conduct Authority requirements, discuss with the client whether or not to complain.
By the end of this stage, the client will have made an informed choice of the strategy that is most likely to resolve her/his debt problem.