Customers in Financial Difficulty
Phone number for customers in financial difficulty: 0345 606 0573.
Danske Bank is committed to helping your business find a way forward if it is experiencing financial difficulty. We want your business to be successful. However, there may be times throughout your business lifecycle when you need extra support. Our approach is to work with you and your business to ensure long term success.
We understand that businesses may find themselves in financial difficulty for a wide variety of reasons. Lower income, higher costs and cashflow pressures can be a challenge for many businesses and can cause customers to experience difficulty in meeting their financial commitments. Often these can be dealt with easily, however if ignored can be damaging, not only for the business owner, but also for staff, creditors and customers.
It is important that if you find yourself in a position of financial difficulty to seek help as soon as possible.
What should you do?
- Don't ignore your debt problem - debt won’t go away on its own, the more open and honest you are about the problem and its causes, the more we are likely to be able to help you.
- Act fast – debt problems are easier to solve if you act early and ask for help. An escalation of the problem is in no-one's interest. Danske Bank is committed to consider cases of financial difficulty sympathetically and positively. Contact your Relationship Manager or, alternatively, contact a Danske Bank branch as soon as possible even if you are not in financial difficulty at the moment but think you may be soon.
What we will do
- Contact you if we think or become aware that you may be heading towards financial difficulties
- Explain our approach to financial difficulties: i.e. provide support and fair treatment and have a sympathetic and positive approach
- Provide you with information on details of organisations who can give debt advice
- Discuss the matter with you and seek information that will help us to identify the best course of action
- Keep in touch. If you want us to deal with you in writing, email, phone or face to face, we will be happy to do so
- Give you clear information about the amount you owe
- Develop a plan with you for clearing your debts in a way you can afford, with your help and co-operation. Such a plan may range from an informal arrangement to restructuring your debt so you can repay it over an extended period
How we might be able to help you
Danske Bank will try to come to the fairest solution. We will:
- Advise you of the information required from you to enable us to assess the situation fully;
- Explore alternative arrangements giving full consideration to your circumstances;
- Complete an assessment to consider if an alternative repayment/restructure arrangement is suitable for you.
This will involve working out what assets you have available, working out what you need to repay and going through your financial accounts in order to agree a reasonable plan for repaying the debt. In some cases, this discussion may take place through specialist teams in the Bank. Their aim is to help you assess your circumstances and agree a repayment/restructure programme. We will treat each case individually and will not encourage you to commit or agree to a repayment arrangement which, from our knowledge of the situation, it is clear you cannot afford.
We may be willing to accept smaller payments but we do not have to accept any offer of repayment just because an offer has been made.
You will be given every opportunity to agree satisfactory conditions for repaying your debt. If you can make a satisfactory agreement about repaying your debt, it is important that you keep in touch with us throughout the repayment process, especially if your circumstances change. Repayment plans may be subject to regular review. Any review period will be agreed with you.
Other things to consider
It is important that you keep to the payment plan we agree with you, or tell us if there is a change in your circumstances which may affect the arrangement. If you do not make the agreed payments, we might have to resort to legal action to get back any money you owe us including associated fees, interest and costs. This could include taking legal action to repossess your assets.
We strongly recommend that you consult a professional adviser, for example your accountant or solicitor to provide financial, legal and debt advice. If you wish, we can work with these advisers to seek a solution to your problem (including advisers from free debt advice agencies). These advisers may accompany you to all meetings with us.
Costs and Expenses
If you are in arrears, we may charge you for reasonable costs and expenses. Please see our Fees and Service Charges Explained leaflet for further details.
How to complain
If you are not happy with any aspect of our service, please see our leaflet Puttings Things Right for you. Our aim is to resolve complaints to the satisfaction of our customers. However if, having followed our published complaint procedures, you disagree with the final decision we have made, you can refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Details are available from us on request or from www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk. If you are a Corporate Opt-out Customer you will not be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Further details are available in our leaflet “Putting things right for you”.
Alternatively, you may be able to have your complaint reviewed by the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS). For further information, including details on eligibility criteria, please refer to the BBRS website 
.
Contact us
It is important that you contact us as early as possible and remain in touch to give us the best opportunity to help you. We operate a dedicated phone line for customers in financial difficulty: 0345 606 0573 or alternatively, you can contact your Branch or Relationship Manager (if appropriate). Advise us as soon as possible if you move to a new address.
Other Useful contacts
Advice NI
Advice NI and the Independent Advice Network offer free and confidential advice across Northern Ireland for Sole Traders, Partnerships and Limited Companies. It provides telephone debt advice and solutions for trading or former trading businesses experiencing financial difficulties, whatever the circumstance or situation.
You can contact us for advice on Money & Debt and Business Debt,
- Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm on 0800 915 4604.
- For advice in your local area you can find your nearest Indpendent Advice Network Member on our website at AdviceNI
.
Professional Advisers
You may wish to consider consulting a professional adviser, for example your accountant or solicitor to provide financial, legal and debt advice. It is important you consider the costs involved in seeking this advice before engaging their services.
