A customer is drowning in too many debts
When your account is one of many a customer cannot keep up with, the most useful thing you can do is help them see the whole picture — not just yours.
What this scenario teaches
- Recognise overcommitment as distinct from a single shortfall
- Resist the urge to simply demand priority for your account
- Set a fair share rather than the maximum you can extract
- Refer strongly to free financial counselling
- Document the arrangement and review it sensibly
6 min read
The scenario
A customer explains they are behind not just with you but with several creditors — a car loan, a credit card, a couple of buy-now-pay-later accounts, perhaps utilities too. Each one is calling, each wants to be paid first, and the person is overwhelmed by the sheer arithmetic of it.
You could fight to be the squeaky wheel that gets paid. But a customer who is robbing one creditor to pay another is heading for collapse, and a collapse helps nobody — least of all you.
What's really going on
Overcommitment means the person's total obligations exceed what their income can service. This is structural, not a temporary dip, and it will not be fixed by any single creditor shouting loudest. People in this position often pay whoever pressures them most, which means good behaviour by you can simply lose you your place in the queue.
What they usually need is help stepping back to see everything at once and sorting it into a plan — which is exactly what a free financial counsellor does. Your account is far more likely to be paid as part of an orderly plan than through a panicked, unsustainable promise.
Your options
- Set a fair share. Accept a realistic amount that reflects your slice of their commitments, not the whole of their spare cash.
- Hold steady. A modest, reliable instalment as part of a wider plan is worth more than a fragile maximum.
- Refer firmly. Encourage them to call the National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) to map all their debts together.
- Co-operate. Be willing to work alongside a counsellor's proposed arrangement.
Recommended approach
Take the wider view out loud: "It sounds like this is bigger than just our account — let's make sure you're not robbing Peter to pay Paul." Suggest, genuinely, that a free financial counsellor can help them see everything and build one plan. Accept a fair, sustainable share for your account and confirm it in writing.
Co-operating with an organised repayment plan recovers more, more reliably, than winning a short-term scramble. The fuller picture of sustainable collections sits in the Academy library.
What to avoid
Do not insist on being paid first regardless of the person's other obligations, and do not try to grab all of their limited spare money — that just shifts the crisis to next month. Avoid discouraging them from getting counselling because you fear losing priority; an orderly plan serves you better than chaos. And never pressure someone into borrowing more to clear you.
The lesson
- Overcommitment is structural — no single creditor fixes it by shouting loudest.
- Accept a fair share rather than grabbing all their spare cash.
- Refer firmly to the National Debt Helpline to map every debt together.
- An orderly plan recovers more than winning a short-term scramble.
Frequently asked questions
Shouldn't I push to be paid first?
Pressuring your way to the front rarely lasts and often pushes the customer over the edge. A fair share within a sustainable plan recovers more over time.
Why would I encourage financial counselling if it might reduce my payment?
Because a counsellor turns chaos into an orderly, affordable plan that you are far more likely to be paid through than a panicked, fragile promise.
What's a fair amount to accept?
One that reflects your proportion of their total commitments and still leaves essentials covered — realistic enough that they can actually keep it up.
Real situations, the right call
When an account goes past talking, Merion recovers it — commission-only, no upfront fee.