Request to write off a joint debt - letter

This advice applies to England. See advice for See advice for Northern Ireland, See advice for Scotland, See advice for Wales

If you are unable to pay your debts, you should contact your creditor to let them know and see if they are willing to write off the debt.

This template is to be used for guidance and may not suit your specific situation. If you require more detailed advice and guidance, you can get more help.

If you need more help on using this tool, or you want to read about circumstances when you might use it, see Guidelines for using the letter templates.

Check if your creditor can still take action against you

Your creditors have a limited time to take you to court to repay a debt. For most debts, the time limit is 6 years. The time limit restarts if you write to your creditor or make a payment. If it’s a joint debt, this includes if the other person makes a payment. 

If you haven’t got court papers after 6 years, your debt becomes ‘statute barred’ - this means your creditor can’t take court action to get their money back. 

Don’t use this letter if:

  • it’s been over 6 years, because they might not be able to force you to pay

  • it will soon be 6 years, because contacting them might restart the time limit

Check if the time limit has passedor will pass soon. If you’re not sure, talk to an adviser.

Sam Hoolin and Alex Liu

8 Park Avenue
Arlton
AL1 4CA

01632 960001

sam123@mail.com

Giltham City Bank

24 Station Road
Giltham
GT16 3LP

5 November 2024

Your reference: AN1/Reminder/674

To whom it may concern,

Account names: Sam K Hoolin and Alex P Liu

Account number: 12345678

We are sorry that we are unable to keep up our monthly payments to your company. This is because:

We're on long term sick and unable to work. We have claimed benefits and are waiting to hear the outcome of our claims. Our situation is unlikely to improve.

We enclose a copy of our financial statement. This shows income and expenses for our household. You will see from this information that we are unable to make any offer of payment.

Unfortunately, our circumstances are unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future and we have no assets to sell to help clear our debt. We are therefore asking you to consider writing off our debt as we can see no way of ever repaying it.

If you are unable to agree to this, please explain your reasons.

Thank you for your help and we look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Sam Hoolin and Alex Liu

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Page last reviewed on 17 March 2021