Can social worker help with debt?

The best bet is to contact your mairie, especially (in larger towns) the section called Centre Communal d’Action Social – and let them know you would like to talk to an assistant social. They should be able to give you contact details. You can then make contact and explain to them why you want help.

They should be able to make an appointment to listen to your issues in more depth and work out what help they can give.

An assistant social may be able to advise you on financial help that might be available to you as well as potentially putting you in touch with other bodies that could help. They can also provide general ‘moral support’ and a listening ear.

If it is necessary, they can assist with the applying for a ‘surendettement’ procedure, which is a formal process where solutions are sought where an individual has got into too much debt and cannot pay their bills. This involves an application to the commission de surendettement des particuliers for your department.

This body will study the situation to check, for example, that these are not business debts and that you are in good faith – this can take several months.

If the dossier is accepted then this suspends attempts by creditors to seize your goods or take payments out of your account and stops banks from suspending your cards or cheques, closing your accounts, putting pressure on you to repay loans or charging you for failed direct debits on an account in the red.

As part of the process it is possible that solutions may be found, such as the Banque de France agreeing to write off some of your loans, reduce interest on them or helping you to pay them back over a longer period.