Hardship questions that show whether customers felt heard
Ask customers in financial difficulty how repayments feel, how asking for help went and what would ease the pressure. Each question below comes with when to ask it and what the answer tells you.
What financial hardship survey questions tell you
Financial hardship survey questions ask customers who are struggling with repayments how things feel, what changed, whether they knew help was available and how fairly your team treated them. The answers show whether your hardship process reaches people early and leaves them feeling respected, and which part of the conversation needs work.
Ask a week or two after a customer's request for help is settled, and keep the tone gentle and the survey short, at four or five questions. Send it by email or link, separate from any payment reminder, and turn on anonymous responses for a link or QR code survey when you want candid answers about the process.
Each written answer gets a category, a theme, a type and a sentiment, and each response an urgency, so a customer in real distress reaches a trained colleague first. Give those responses an owner and a status in the inbox, and keep the free advice message at the end so every customer sees where to get help.
- Questions
- 14
- Best asked
- A week or two after a help request is settled
- Industry
- Finance
- Where to find them
- From library in the Usertick survey editor, on every plan
The 14 help with debt questions, with when to ask each
Grouped by what they tell you. Use them as they are or change the wording.
How repayments feel now
Ask how repayments feel, which debts are involved, what changed and how hopeful the customer is, in broad terms and without details.
- 01Multiple choice
How do your repayments feel at the moment?
How repayments feel, from comfortable to hard to keep up. The donut in Results shows the share in each band; select Hard to keep up to read those customers' answers first.
- 02Multiple choice
Which of these do you have repayments on?
Which debts the customer is repaying, from cards to buy now pay later. The bars show how many customers are juggling several kinds of credit at once.
- 08Dropdown
What changed to make things tight?
What changed, from lost income to an unexpected cost. The shares in Results help you prepare support for the most common situations without asking for any details.
- 07Big scale
How hopeful do you feel about clearing what you owe?
How hopeful the customer feels about clearing the debt, on a 1 to 10 scale. Compare it with the period before to see whether your support changes how people feel.
Asking for help
Find out whether customers knew help existed and how easy it was to ask, since early contact makes every option easier.
- 03Yes / No
Have you ever asked a lender for more time?
Whether the customer has asked any lender for more time. A No beside a hard repayment answer marks a customer worth reaching early.
- 09Yes / No
Do you know what options we offer if payments get hard?
Whether the customer knows the options you offer. A large share of No answers means your hardship options need a clearer place in letters, the app and your website.
- 04Customer effort
How easy was it to ask us for help?
How easy it was to ask you for help. Results shows the average and the share who found it easy; low scores point at the first contact, such as phone menus or forms.
How your team handled it
Rate fairness, listening, privacy and speed, so you know which part of the conversation to train for.
- 05Stars
How fairly were you treated when you asked for help?
Stars for how fairly the customer was treated. Results shows the average and the share who rated 4 or higher; read every low rating, and give it an owner.
- 10Matrix
Rate how we handled your request on each
Listening, options explained, privacy and speed in one grid. The heat map shows which part of the conversation customers rate lowest, with an average for each row.
What would help next
Let customers rank what would help and say it in their own words, and always end by pointing to free advice.
- 14Ranking
Rank the three things that would help you most
Customers put a lower rate, a payment break, a longer term, someone to talk to and a clear plan in order. Results shows the average place per item, a guide to what to offer first.
- 06Text
What would take the pressure off right now?
The open question on what would take the pressure off. Answers arrive with a sentiment and a theme, so requests such as lower payments or more time group together.
- 11Text
What would you tell someone in the same position?
Advice the customer would give someone in the same position. These answers show what helped them, in words that can guide your own help pages.
- 12File upload
Upload a recent statement so we can see the full picture
Collects a statement file with the response, shown in a gallery in Results. Ask for statements in your own hardship process where you can, since in a feedback survey it can feel intrusive. File upload is on every plan, 1 per survey on Free.
- 13Call to action
Free debt advice is available and confidential
A closing message pointing to free, confidential debt advice. Keep it at the end for every customer, whatever they answered, so nobody leaves without a next step.
Tips for asking about help with debt
Small choices that get honest, useful answers.
- 01
Ask once the request is settled
Send the survey after the plan or payment break is agreed. Before that, every answer is about uncertainty.
- 02
Keep it short and gentle
Use four or five questions in plain words, and leave out anything that reads like an assessment of the customer.
- 03
Keep it apart from collections
Send the survey separately from payment reminders, so customers don't feel their answers affect what they owe.
- 04
Always show where to get help
End with the free advice message, so every customer leaves the survey knowing where to turn.
Add these questions to a survey
From the library to the first answers.
- 1
Open the library
In the Usertick survey editor, choose From library, filter by industry and topic, and add several questions at once.
- 2
Or paste your own list
Paste questions reads up to 10 questions from any text on Free, 100 on Starter and 200 on Pro and above, keeps your wording and picks an answer type for each.
- 3
Choose where it runs
Show the survey on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.
- 4
Read the answers
Results counts every score and choice, and Usertick reads each written answer and files it by topic, on every plan.
Templates and more questions about help with debt
Full surveys that ask about the same things, and neighboring topics in the library.
Templates
Browse all templatesFrequently asked questions
A week or two after the customer's request for help is settled. Usertick sends to a contact list now or on a date you schedule up to 30 days ahead.
Yes, for a website, link or QR code survey with anonymous responses turned on: no user ID, traits or visitor ID are stored. That doesn't apply to surveys sent through Usertick email.
Four or five. Start with how easy it was to ask for help and how fairly they were treated, and end with the free advice message.
Use the dropdown of broad reasons and leave out follow-up questions about health or family details. The broad reason is enough to plan support.
Yes. The question library comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.
Yes. Once a question is in your survey, reword it, change its options or its answer type, and add logic to skip it for some answers.
Yes. The library is translated into Usertick's built-in languages, and in any other language it shows in English for you to translate.
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