Financial Hardship Letter

Why this form exists, and what it will not do

Financial Hardship Letter is for a person asking a creditor or a landlord for time or a smaller payment. The moment to use it: before the account goes to the next stage, and before you miss a payment if you can. It sits in the Money and payments group on Papero. Private notes, payment plans, and letters about income. Not a bank's own form.

Fill it in this browser. Papero does not create an account, does not upload the answers, and does not keep a copy after you close the tab. When the preview looks right, print it or download a PDF. The PDF is built on your device. A blank download leaves the lines empty so someone else can fill them by hand.

Work through the page in order. The You section asks for Your name, Phone, Account or address, Sent to. The Facts section asks for What changed, What you can pay, What you are asking.

Your name. Name. Phone. A number they can call. Account or address. What this is about. Sent to. The office.

What changed. The hardship, with dates. What you can pay. A realistic figure and a start date. What you are asking. A pause, a smaller payment, or a plan.

People send this back, or refuse it, for ordinary reasons. The amount you offer is not an amount you can pay. You include a false reason. You assume the letter itself changes the contract. Read the finished page once as if you were the person receiving it. If a line would make you call back, fill that line.

Sign on the Signature and Date line. A typed name in the signature spot is weaker than ink on a printed page. Date it the day you sign, not the day you hope the other person signs.

What this page cannot do: A private note or payment plan can be a contract between the people who sign it. It is not a court judgment and not a wage garnishment. Interest above your state's limit can spoil a note. If you are not charging interest, write "no interest" instead of leaving a blank a later reader could fill in. Banks use their own direct-deposit form when they require one. Papero is not a law firm, not a government agency, and not the office that will accept or reject the paper.

State note for your state. Financial Hardship Letter does not contain your state's required clauses, font size, language, or filing fee. Counties and cities inside your state sometimes add their own rule on top of the state. Before you rely on this for a lease, a school, a court, a bank, or an agency, compare it with the form that office publishes. If the office has no form, this template is a clear record of what you wrote and what you signed on this date.

After you print, use dark ink. Write "not applicable" on a line that does not apply, so a clerk does not treat a blank as a missing fact. Initial a correction beside the line. Do not cover a dollar amount with correction fluid. Each person who has a signature line signs their own name. One person cannot sign for another unless a statutory power of attorney, on the form that office accepts, already says so. Give the other party a copy the same day. On your copy, note the date and whether you handed it over, mailed it, or uploaded it to their portal. Attach copies of supporting papers, not your only original, unless the office demanded the original. Do not attach a Social Security card, a passport image, or a bank statement unless the recipient told you to, and then only in person or through their secure portal. Email is a common way those images are stolen. If the recipient is a government office, stop and use the form on that office's own site. Papero does not transmit this page, does not notarize it, and does not store it.

Keep a copy. Give the other party a copy. If you later change a fact, fill the form again and date the new copy. Do not scribble a second story into the margin of a page someone already signed. Write the date you handed it over, and how, on your own copy.

Before you rely on it

• The amount you offer is not an amount you can pay.
• You include a false reason.
• You assume the letter itself changes the contract.

A private note or payment plan can be a contract between the people who sign it. It is not a court judgment and not a wage garnishment. Interest above your state's limit can spoil a note. If you are not charging interest, write "no interest" instead of leaving a blank a later reader could fill in. Banks use their own direct-deposit form when they require one.

How to fill and print it

1. Fill the lines. Type into the Financial Hardship Letter in this browser. Write "not applicable" on a line that does not apply. What you type stays in this tab and is not uploaded.
2. Check the preview. The boxed preview is the page that prints. Read it once as the person who will receive the paper.
3. Print or download. Use Print, or download a filled PDF or a blank PDF. The file is built on your device.

More Money and payments forms

• Bank Account Information Worksheet
• Direct Deposit Authorization
• Income Verification Worksheet

Questions