Creditors – working together to support customers with free debt advice

By working closely with creditor collections and recoveries departments, PayPlan offers early intervention and quality free debt advice across the UK.

Find out how our digital channels provide simple referral routes and regular reporting to reduce creditor customers from falling into an industry perceived debt advice black hole.

What makes PayPlan different?

Our digital advances mean that we can reduce duplication for our clients and provide clear outcome data to our partners, with client permission. This results in a joined-up process for all parties.

Secure referral methods

Secure referral forms are our most popular referral channel as they allow partners to request a call back or initiate a digital journey with PayPlan on their customer’s behalf. 

Around 65% of people will engage with a referral in this manner over traditional methods such as hotkey, which around 20% of people choose, and signposting at around 5%.

In April, we launched our new form with updated features and created training materials and a referral toolkit to help organisations spot the early signs of debt.


Our secure online referral form includes:

  • Date picker – a calendar to easily select the individual’s preferred date and time that they wish to be contacted
  • Preferred contact method – to quickly select if the client would prefer a call back or a digital journey
  • Reason for referral – add additional information about the person that will help us to understand their situation and reduce duplication
  • Agent details – agents can ‘tag’ each referral which allows us to feedback at agent level who they have referred and what has happened next

PayPlan’s data sharing service

Thousands of people receive debt advice each year but remain invisible to their creditors because they don’t pro-actively share their income and expenditure and advice outcome.

To solve this problem, we created an industry-first data sharing service, which launched in January 2019. With an individual’s consent, participating creditors receive their full income and expenditure, vulnerability information and PayPlan’s advice recommendation.

Customers only have to complete one income and expenditure which is then shared with all participating creditors. This enables them easier access to breathing space. This service has solved the perceived ‘debt advice black hole’ creating a more joined up and transparent experience for customers and their creditors.

Digital advances

Over the past 12 months, continuous improvements to our digital advice journey have resulted in overall customer engagement improving by 35%. 64% of customers who seek PayPlan’s debt advice now demand a digital journey. Our digital tools and channels help to remove any barriers to advice, making the process quicker, easier and more accurate – ultimately improving outcomes.

During 2019, we added the following to our service:

  • E-sign – 83% of customers electronically sign a letter of authority, enabling PayPlan to act on their behalf with creditors
  • Mobile app – 71% of annual reviews are completed via a full self-serve PayPlan+ App
  • WhatsApp and LiveChat support – More popular than email and SMS, customers conveniently and instantly communicate and supply documents by WhatsApp

Joint communications support

We work closely with our partners to create bespoke content for joint landing pages and communications campaigns. Our communications experts can support on client letters, emails and text message campaigns.

Find out how we work with Royal Bank of Scotland in this case study example.

In-house support

Self-employed services

At PayPlan, we are pleased to offer in-house support for people who are self-employed. In our dedicated team, specialists work with individuals to create cash flow budgets to understand their business’ affordability and whether they are making a profit or loss.

People who run their own businesses know that income isn’t straight forward. Unlike a standard solution, our self-employed IVA team, PayPlan Bespoke Services, takes into consideration what someone can pay over a 12-month period; meaning that repayments can be flexible around peaks and troughs in income and seasonality.

These measures provide an achievable solution that works around the individual’s circumstances.

See more

Book Training

We offer several free and paid for training sessions to suit a variety of organisations. Learn more or book training.

How do I become a partner?

To find out how we can work together, email our partnership team today – partnershipsupport@payplan.com

Support for vulnerable clients

Our dedicated vulnerable client team has grown over recent years to ensure that our particularly vulnerable clients receive additional support and training.