Debts and Disinclination: The Influence of Acknowledgement on Debtors’ Willingness to Contact the Creditor

As the negative consequences of debts are substantial, it is important that indebted people seek and accept help. However, people in debt are often reluctant to contact the creditor and identify shame as a barrier. Moreover, they experience a lack of acknowledgement when communicating with creditors. Given the human need for acknowledgement and the suggestion that acknowledgement can reduce shame, the current study examined the effect of acknowledgement on indebted people’s willingness to contact the creditor and explored the role of financial shame. To this end, 206 native English-speaking people with current or past debts completed an online experiment in which they read either a standard creditor letter or a creditor letter in which the creditor acknowledged the situation of the person in debt. Willingness to contact the creditor and financial shame did not differ between participants who read a creditor letter in which their situations were acknowledged and those whose read a...Show moreAs the negative consequences of debts are substantial, it is important that indebted people seek and accept help. However, people in debt are often reluctant to contact the creditor and identify shame as a barrier. Moreover, they experience a lack of acknowledgement when communicating with creditors. Given the human need for acknowledgement and the suggestion that acknowledgement can reduce shame, the current study examined the effect of acknowledgement on indebted people’s willingness to contact the creditor and explored the role of financial shame. To this end, 206 native English-speaking people with current or past debts completed an online experiment in which they read either a standard creditor letter or a creditor letter in which the creditor acknowledged the situation of the person in debt. Willingness to contact the creditor and financial shame did not differ between participants who read a creditor letter in which their situations were acknowledged and those whose read a standard creditor letter. However, higher financial shame was associated with lower willingness to contact. We conclude that acknowledging indebted people’s situations is not enough to increase their willingness to contact the creditor. Future research could test other ways to address and reduce the financial shame.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

Debts and Disinclination: The Influence of Acknowledgement on Debtors’ Willingness to Contact the Creditor