What is Financial Hardship?
Financial Hardship essentially translates to a situation of extreme privation in which you no longer have, or have lost, the financial ability to provide yourself with the basic necessities of life.
Of course, the firm grounding upon which you are able to claim financial hardship is the involuntary nature of the monetary dire straits you have found yourself in.
Ultimately, the hardship you face must be extreme for you to be able to justifiably cite this as a reason why you cannot pay your debts and bills. Also, there is an important distinction to be made concerning circumstantial change, i.e. your situation must have qualitatively changed since you agreed the terms of the loan or payment plan with whomsoever you owe money.
Examples of circumstances you may face are:
- Having just lost your job
- Sudden illness or death in the family
- Sudden rise in bank charges or loan and debt repayments
In order to access your rights and the payment assistance you may be entitled to, you can compose a financial hardship letter.
What is a Financial Hardship letter?
This is a letter from an individual to a creditor, whether that is another individual, organisation or business. The purpose of this letter is to achieve a level of clemency and to point out that the payment plan you had previously arranged is currently at odds with what you are able to contribute.
A financial hardship letter can give you a stronger footing when requesting relief from debt payments. You must detail your financial concerns and circumstances, what has occurred to impact negatively upon your ability to pay what is owed, what you are technically asking for, and how you are aiming to rectify the unfortunate circumstances that have befallen you.
The easiest way to clarify whether you can claim financial hardship is to use our free Find a Solicitor service to gain legal advice and help composing your letter from an experienced professional.
