Conversations with Customers Who Can’t Pay

Specialist debt conversation training for teams handling arrears, missed payments, collections and financial hardship conversations.

Enquire View course details

Overview

Who it's for

Reviews

Course content

Benefits

Enquire

Course overview

Duration

Half-day

Delivery

In-person or virtual

Delegates

Max. 16 delegates

Fee

£1,600 + VAT

Money pressure changes how people think, listen and make decisions. A customer who cannot pay may be frightened, ashamed, frustrated or already choosing between essentials.

Under Consumer Duty, firms need to show that customers in financial difficulty are treated fairly and given support that matches their circumstances. This course helps staff handle debt and arrears conversations with structure, empathy and clear boundaries.

Delegates learn how to explore the situation, avoid language that increases shame, explain options clearly, identify vulnerability and signpost to relevant support. The aim is to improve customer outcomes while protecting trust, repayment engagement and regulatory confidence.

Who is this course for?

  • Customer-facing colleagues
  • Payment, arrears and collections teams
  • Debt support and financial assistance teams
  • Claims and complaints handlers
  • Vulnerability Champions and vulnerability leads
  • Customer service team leaders and managers
  • Quality assurance, L&D, compliance and operations teams

Course Reviews

What this course covers

  • Common causes of financial hardship and how they can affect customer behaviour
  • How stress and scarcity can affect decision-making and understanding
  • How to respond when customers disclose debt, arrears or money worries
  • How to identify vulnerability within financial difficulty conversations
  • How to ask about circumstances in a clear, respectful and useful way
  • How to explain options without adding pressure, shame or confusion
  • How to signpost to debt advice and other sources of support
  • How to balance empathy, boundaries, process and good customer outcomes

How this training benefits your organisation

  • Supports fair treatment of customers in arrears or financial difficulty
  • Gives staff clearer language for conversations that can quickly become emotional or defensive
  • Helps reduce poor outcomes caused by rushed explanations, missed vulnerability or unsuitable next steps
  • Improves trust and engagement by making support feel practical, respectful and easier to understand
  • Supports compliance evidence around arrears communication training and financial hardship customer support
  • Helps protect reputation by reducing avoidable complaints, escalations and signs of poor customer care

Some of the organisations we support.

United Trust Bank

United Trust Bank identified that vulnerability handling in underwriting is very different to the training and guidance offered to customer service teams.

Wessex Water

Wessex Water were keen to seek an external, objective review from vulnerability experts for continuous improvement.

Power NI

Power NI recognised that their frontline teams were experiencing higher volumes of sensitive disclosures from customers facing vulnerable circumstances.

People’s Partnership

People’s Partnership were keen to fully embed the fair treatment of vulnerable customers within the company culture.

NIE Networks

NIE Networks wanted expert advice on effective ways to embed their ethos of supporting vulnerable customers across the organisation.

    Enquire about this course.

    Tell us how we can help. Ask a question, request a quote, or speak to us about tailoring this course for your organisation.

    We can respond by email or arrange a call back, whichever works best for you.