New ‘Debt Management’ documents now available
Epoq are please to announce the availability of some new document for use by our institutional or law firm partners using our Rapidocs applications. These documents together form a new service to help people in managing their debts – a very topical project given the current economic climate. The project consists of a series of letters to help people deal with creditors and also an income and expenditure statement to help work out their finances.
The new documents are as follows:
Holding letter to creditor. Use this document to inform a creditor that you are or will be in difficulties maintaining your payments and to explain the reason why. The letter will ask the creditor to hold from taking any action in respect of the debt until an anticipated improvement in your financial circumstances occurs, or after you review your financial situation, you are able to formulate a proposal to the creditor in respect of the debt.
Income and expenditure statement. Use this document to record your income from all sources and total expenditure, and to record what your debts are and where (if applicable) you have fallen into arrears with such debts. The document will then calculate what surplus income (if any) you have. With this information, you can review and make decisions about whether you need to reduce your expenditure, and if so, where you might make savings; and about how best to use any surplus income that you have.
Offer letter to creditor. After you have completed a review of your financial circumstances using the document ‘Income and expenditure statement’, use this document to make a proposal to your creditor in respect of your debt, supported by your completed income and expenditure statement. This document can be used whether the debt to this creditor is a priority debt or a non-priority debt. Although a creditor does not have to accept your proposal, this document will improve your chances by guiding you towards making a fair proposal that is backed up by full and frank disclosure of your financial circumstances.
No offer letter to creditor. After you have completed a review of your financial circumstances using the document ‘Income and expenditure statement’, you can use this document to inform your creditor that you are unable at the present time to make a proposal in respect of your debt, that you will contact your creditor again when your circumstances change and to request that your creditor hold action in respect of the debt in the meantime.
Letter regarding mortgage debt or arrears. If you are having difficulties, or know that you will within a relatively short period have difficulties meeting the payments due under your mortgage, you can use this document to help you to explain the problem to your mortgage lender and to outline the steps you will be taking, and the assistance you would like your mortgage lender to provide to help you, to address the problem. You can use this document whether or not there are already arrears that have arisen on your mortgage account. It is better if you tackle any problem, or even any anticipated problem, with your mortgage payments at the earliest opportunity before it becomes unmanageable. This document may be used in conjunction with the document ‘Income and expenditure statement’.
Epoq partners interested in including these documents as part of their online services should get in touch with their Epoq Account manager in the first instance.