Payment plan and grace period: getting time to pay in France

An energy bill, two months of rent, a loan that has become too heavy: the debt is real, but you could still pay if you were given time. A payment plan is then the simplest tool, provided you ask early and ask the right person. A lawyer reviews your situation in 20 minutes on Avocat20min.fr.

This article is part of our series on debt in France. It covers the time you can obtain: by agreement, from a judge, from the tax office, from your energy supplier or from your landlord. The rules and amounts quoted are those in force on 20 October 2026.

A payment plan by agreement: the first step

Start by writing to the creditor. A negotiated payment plan avoids the cost of court proceedings and keeps the relationship intact.

Nothing forces a creditor to say yes, though. A lender, for example, is never obliged to accept an informal deferral. Your proposal therefore has to be credible:

• A costed budget: your income, your fixed costs, what is left each month.
• A realistic amount: €80 paid every month is better than €200 promised and then dropped.
• A precise duration and a date for the first payment.
• The cause of the difficulty: job loss, illness, separation, lower income.

Send the request in writing, ideally by registered letter, and keep a copy. If the creditor agrees, ask for written confirmation of the payment plan, with the total amount owed and the schedule.

Once the payment plan is accepted, stick to it. A missed instalment may allow the creditor to end the arrangement and claim everything. If your situation changes again, write before the due date rather than after, with a new amount to propose. A short, honest letter sent early carries more weight than a long explanation sent once the creditor has already lost patience.

Check your borrower insurance too. Depending on the contract, it may cover loan instalments in the event of job loss, incapacity or disability.

If a debt collection agency is chasing you, know that it can negotiate a schedule, but it cannot charge you its out-of-court collection fees. Those fees stay with the creditor.

Grace periods granted by the court

When the creditor refuses, a judge can decide. Article 1343-5 of the French Civil Code allows the judge to postpone or spread out payment of the sums due, within a limit of 2 years.

The judge weighs two things: your situation and the creditor's needs. A grace period is therefore not automatic. You ask for it with evidence: payslips, tax notices, rent receipts, proof of expenses, a France Travail certificate.

In practice, the question often arises once the creditor has already taken you to court. Come to the hearing with a costed schedule and your documents: that is the moment to ask for time. A lawyer drafts this request and proposes a timetable the judge can accept.

Mortgage or consumer credit: suspending repayments

For a loan, a specific route exists. The juge des contentieux de la protection (the judge who handles consumer credit and tenancy cases) can suspend repayments for up to 2 years, without any surcharge or penalty, whatever the amount of the loan.

You need a serious reason: job loss, long sick leave, divorce, the death of a relative whose income counted. The application takes the form of a written request, for which service-public offers a template, together with proof of your income and expenses.

When the suspension ends, the suspended instalments are spread out or added at the end of the loan. The judge sets the terms.

Watch the calendar: the reform of consumer credit comes into force on 20 November 2026. The article numbers in the Consumer Code that frame these rules may change on that date. So check the reference quoted in any template letter downloaded before the reform.

If missed payments pile up without any reaction from you, the lender can demand the whole remaining capital, plus accrued interest and a penalty capped at 8% of that capital. Asking for a payment plan or a suspension before that stage changes everything.

Taxes: asking the tax office for a payment schedule

The tax office also grants time. For income tax, housing tax or property tax, a payment extension remains possible, on an exceptional basis.

You apply from your personal space on impots.gouv.fr, through the secure messaging service ("Écrire à l'administration", then "J'ai des difficultés pour payer"). You can also go to your local public finance centre. Explain the difficulty, propose a schedule and attach your evidence.

An application for time has another effect: according to tax guidance, it counts as an acknowledgement of the debt and interrupts the 4-year period the public accountant has to recover the tax. Our article on the debt limitation period explains this mechanism.

Energy: the winter truce and disconnection

For gas and electricity, the calendar protects you in winter. The 2026-2027 winter truce runs from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027.

During this period, the supplier cannot cut off gas or electricity at your main home. It can, however, reduce the electrical power. With a Linky meter, electricity is kept at 1 kVA for at least 60 days before any disconnection.

Outside the truce, disconnection follows a timetable:

Situation	Steps before a disconnection
General case	Bill payable within 14 days, 1st letter with 15 days, 2nd letter with 20 days
Recipient of the chèque énergie (energy voucher) or of the FSL in the last 12 months	1st letter with 30 days, then 20 days
Water at your main home	Never cut off, even for unpaid bills

Use these delays to call the supplier and negotiate a payment plan. If you are stuck, the Énergie-Info service answers on 0800 11 22 12, a free number. If you receive the energy voucher, say so: it lengthens the delays before any disconnection.

Unpaid rent: FSL, CCAPEX and a repayment plan

Unpaid rent calls for a quick reaction. The landlord can have a formal demand to pay served by a commissaire de justice (court enforcement officer).

That demand opens a 6-week period and gives the address of your département's housing solidarity fund (FSL). The enforcement officer also sends it to the CCAPEX, the département committee for the prevention of evictions. Since a decree of August 2026, a social and financial assessment takes place from that demand onwards when the landlord is a private individual or a family property company (SCI familiale).

Several routes let you spread the debt:

• A repayment plan negotiated with the landlord, possibly with help from the FSL. With an FSL repayment plan, housing benefit continues if you resume paying the current rent.
• Court-ordered payment terms, up to 3 years for a rent debt under the conditions of the 1989 tenancy law, instead of the general 2 years.
• SOS loyers impayés, on 0 805 160 075, a free service that points you in the right direction.

Our guide to the eviction procedure explains what follows if the debt is not settled.

Summary: who grants what time

Debt	Who to ask	Possible time
Any debt	The creditor, by agreement	Open, with no duty to accept
Any debt, in court	The judge (art. 1343-5 Civil Code)	2 years at most
Mortgage or consumer credit	Juge des contentieux de la protection	Suspension of up to 2 years
Income tax, local taxes	Public finance centre	Exceptional extension, case by case
Gas, electricity	Supplier	No disconnection from 1 November 2026 to 31 March 2027
Rent	Landlord, FSL, judge	Repayment plan, up to 3 years in court under conditions

When a payment plan is no longer enough

A payment plan assumes that, given time, you can repay. If several debts pile up and the budget no longer holds, other tools take over.

An over-indebtedness file lets a Banque de France commission build an overall plan, lasting 7 years at most. The procedure is free. When the situation is beyond repair, the personal recovery procedure can go as far as writing off the debts.

Before that, check that the debt is still owed: a claim that is too old may be time-barred, and our article on limitation periods explains how to check. And if a wage garnishment has already started, the one-month period after the demand to pay is the window to seek an agreement or challenge it.

Free help worth knowing

You do not have to negotiate alone. Several free services help you build a budget and a proposal:

• Points conseil budget (budget advice points): free, confidential and personal advice, in every département.
• The CCAS (municipal social action centre) of your town and the département's social services.
• Family or consumer associations.
• Points-justice: a first free legal consultation, on 30 39.

Legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) can cover a lawyer. Under the circular of 16 January 2026, it is full for a single person whose reference tax income does not exceed €12,957. Partial aid exists up to €19,433.

What a lawyer brings

A lawyer works out what you can really pay and drafts a proposal the creditor will take seriously. They also check the statement of account: interest, penalties, fees claimed without a basis.

In court, they ask for a grace period or the suspension of a loan, with the documents that convince. They challenge a seizure before the juge de l'exécution (enforcement judge), or raise a limitation defence. A consumer law lawyer answers you in 20 minutes. The official page on payment terms granted by the court completes this article.