Episode #79
79 | Struggling to Face Your Debt Letters? How to Get Debt-Free as a Dyslexic Adult
This episode of Neurodivergent Money Management explains why debt paperwork—not the debt itself—is often the real barrier for dyslexic adults. Debt communication is legally required to be dense, written text (default notices, terms, portals), and dyslexic brains face slower reading speed, smaller working memory, and documents written above the average reading level (even lawyers struggle). This creates shame rooted in school experiences, not a lack of ability. The host reframes this as a format problem, not a discipline problem, and shares legal rights (UK Equality Act 2010 reasonable adjustments) plus three practical tools to remove the reading burden. Highlights Under the UK Equality Act 2010, dyslexia can qualify for legal "reasonable adjustments" — you can request plain-language summaries, email instead of post, extra time, and a single point of contact. Three tools that take reading off your plate: text-to-speech apps (Seeing AI, built-in phone readers), AI tools (ChatGPT/Claude) to translate letters into plain English, and free debt charities (StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice) that will read and handle letters for you. The homework: open just one letter this week and get it read/explained to you — no need to act on it yet, just remove the "not knowing." COPY AND PASTE SCRIPTS FROM THE EPISODE Script 1. Written request to a creditor, bank or lender Dear Support Team, Account reference: [your account number] I am writing to ask for reasonable adjustments to how you communicate with me. I am dyslexic, and reading long letters and dense written information is difficult and takes me much longer. This puts me at a disadvantage when I deal with my account. Under the Equality Act 2010 you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments so I am not disadvantaged. I would like you to: Send me plain language summaries of any important letters, with the key points and any action I need to take, in short simple sentences. Contact me by email rather than by post. [Or state your own preference, for example large print, or a phone call.] Give me extra time to respond before any further action is taken. Give me a named contact so I do not have to explain my situation each time. Please add a note to my account recording these communication needs so they are applied every time, and please confirm in writing once this is done. If you are not able to make any of these adjustments, please explain why in writing. Thank you. [Your name] Script 2. Phone opening line Hello. Before we go on, I need to tell you that I am dyslexic, so I struggle to read long letters and take in a lot of information at once. Please can you record this as a communication need on my account. I would like plain language summaries and to be contacted by email rather than post, and I may need a little extra time to respond. Can you set that up and confirm it is on my file? Please note: the law says adjustments have to be reasonable, so a firm can decline a specific request if it has a good reason. It cannot refuse simply because it is inconvenient. If you are ignored or treated badly, complain to the firm first, then escalate free of charge to the Financial Ombudsman Service. THE FOUR AI PROMPTS Use any free tool, for example ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot. Type the letter, paste it, or take a photo of it, then paste the prompt underneath. To understand a letter I am dyslexic and I find long letters hard to read. Please read the letter below and tell me what it says in five short, simple sentences. Use plain British English and everyday words. Tell me who it is from, what they want, how much money it is about, and if there is a date I need to act by. Here is the letter: To understand a default notice I have received a default notice about a debt and it is frightening me. Please explain in calm, plain British English what this default notice means, what a default is, and what usually happens next if I do nothing and if I respond. Keep it simple and kind. Do not use legal jargon. List the two or three things I could do now. Here is the letter: To understand a repayment offer A creditor has sent me a repayment offer and I am not sure I understand it. Please explain in plain British English what they are offering, what it would cost me each month, and what the catches or risks might be. Then list my options in a simple bullet list, including asking for a lower payment. Here is the offer: To draft a reply Please help me write a short, polite reply to this creditor in plain British English. I want to sound calm and reasonable. Keep it under 150 words, use simple sentences, and give it to me as a letter I can copy. My situation and what I want to ask for is: [type it here]. Here is their letter: THE READ ALOUD TOOLS Seeing AI — free, from Microsoft, on iPhone and Android. Point your camera at a paper letter and it reads it aloud. iPhone — Settings, Accessibility, Spoken Content. Turn on Speak Screen, then swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen. Android — Settings, Accessibility, Select to Speak. Microsoft Word — the Read Aloud button on the Review tab. Edge and Chrome — right click any page or PDF and choose Read aloud. Adobe Acrobat Reader — View menu, Read Out Loud, for any PDF statement. THE FOUR EXTRA TOOLS MENTIONED One place for every debt document. One physical folder, or one label in your email. You are not sorting or reading anything yet. You are giving every letter one home so they stop floating around the house. Your one page. One single page, in your own words. Who you owe. How much. The smallest payment. The date. You can dictate it out loud instead of writing it. From then on, that friendly page is what you look at, and the originals stay filed. Email over post, writing over phone. A phone call disappears the moment it ends. Email can be read aloud, searched, and returned to when you are calm. Body doubling. Having someone present while you open the post. They do not have to do anything. The presence alone takes the threat out of it. HAND THE READING OVER, FREE All three will read your documents, explain them in plain words, and with your permission speak to your creditors for you. StepChange — stepchange.org — 0800 138 1111 National Debtline — nationaldebtline.org — 0808 808 4000 Citizens Advice — citizensadvice.org.uk You never have to pay for a debt management plan. THE WORKSHOP The Five Money Mistakes Neurodivergent Adults Make Tuesday 15 September 7.00pm UK | 2.00pm EST | 1.00pm CDT One hour live. Thirty to forty minutes of teaching, then twenty minutes of live Q&A. You will understand the real reason traditional money advice has never worked for you, learn the Pause Protocol so you can interrupt an impulse or stress spend before it happens, and leave with one clear starting point you can act on that week. Register: estherbangura.com/workshop RELATED EPISODES EP51 — Dyslexia Money Management: Three Dyslexia-Friendly Money Solutions EP68 — Dyspraxia and Debt: Why Managing Debt Feels Physically Overwhelming EP71 — Fast Debt Payoff Strategies That Work for Neurodivergent Brains EP05 — Redefining Dyslexia and Building Advocacy Across Africa
