If you cannot pay your loan
How bad it gets depends on how early you make contact. Here is the order things happen in, and what you can do at each step.
Updated 2026-09-05
Contact the lender before the due date. Most will agree to a deferral or a repayment plan if you get in touch in time, and before the matter reaches debt collection it costs you almost nothing. After collection and a payment order it gets expensive, and a betalningsanmärkning stays on file for three years.
How it unfolds
First a reminder, often with a SEK 60 fee. Then a debt collection demand at SEK 180. If that goes unpaid the matter goes to Kronofogden as a payment order, at SEK 300 plus representation costs. Fail to contest it in time and a judgment is issued, and that is where the default arises.
The whole chain normally takes two to four months. There is plenty of time to act, and every step is cheaper than the next.
- Reminder, call the lender, ask for a deferral
- Collection demand, request a repayment plan in writing
- Payment order, contest within the deadline if the claim is wrong
- Judgment, the default is registered and stays three years
What actually works
Call, do not only email. Lenders have case handlers with authority to arrange plans, and they would rather do that than enforce through Kronofogden. Ask specifically for a month's deferral or a longer repayment plan, and ask for it in writing.
Do not take a new loan to pay an old one unless it also lowers the rate. Moving a debt into a more expensive quick loan is the commonest way to turn a problem into a spiral.
The help is free
Every Swedish municipality has a budget and debt adviser. The service is free, the adviser is bound by confidentiality, and they help you contact lenders, apply for debt restructuring and build a plan. They are not an authority enforcing anything, they work for you.
Find yours through Hallå konsument or the municipal switchboard. Do not wait until it is urgent; most people who seek help wish they had done so sooner.
Hallå konsument, find your adviser
Common questions
Can I negotiate a default away?
No. A registered default is not removed in exchange for payment. It expires after three years. If it is factually wrong you can have it corrected at the credit reference agency.
What is skuldsanering?
Debt restructuring: a legal process via Kronofogden where you pay what you can for normally five years, after which the remainder is written off. It is meant for those who cannot reasonably pay their debts within the foreseeable future.
Can the lender raise the rate if I miss a payment?
Penalty interest is added, but it falls under the cost cap: total credit costs may never exceed the original amount borrowed.