View All guides Conversation skill · updated 2026-09-21
Maryland SBDC Toolkit

Skill guide

Debt Helper

Coach a client through negotiating and restructuring debt they already have — creditor tactics, cash-flow-driven repayment, protecting credit.

For: Maryland SBDC consultants and staff
Maintainer: Brandon Mason
Source: the skill’s own instructions
What you getWhat you useSetupHow to useFAQ

Start here

What you get

For the client who is behind, over-leveraged, or trying to get a payment or rate down to free cash flow. Say START and it walks one step at a time, asking for the client's input after each; or describe the situation and it coaches from there — restructuring options, how to approach creditors and landlords, sequencing repayments by cash flow, and what protects the credit profile.

Conversation skill. You start it by saying what you want; it asks for what it needs and hands back a deliverable in the same chat. Nothing to install beyond the plugin, nothing to configure.

What it never does

  • Never gives legal advice or tells a client to stop paying; it prepares them for the conversation with creditors and, where needed, counsel.
  • Never guesses at balances or terms — it asks.

Step 1

What to have ready

Step 2

Setting it up

Getting it on your side

The skill is plain instructions, so it runs wherever you already work. Pick your row:

  1. Get the files: everything is in the public GitHub repository — the skills themselves, and the ready-to-install plugin file on the latest release. MIT licensed; no GitHub account needed to download.
  2. Claude desktop app: download sbdc-toolkit.plugin from the latest release, drag it into a chat, click Accept.
  3. ChatGPT: this skill is a plain Markdown file, not Claude-specific. Open skills/mdsbdc-debt-helper/SKILL.md, copy the whole file, and paste it into a ChatGPT Project’s instructions or a custom GPT. Same instructions, same outputs.
  4. Claude Code: /plugin marketplace add bwfnx/sbdc-toolkit then /plugin install sbdc-toolkit@maryland-sbdc

Your first conversation

Open a new chat and say:

START

It will ask for:

  • One step at a time: the debt inventory, the cash-flow reality, the goal (lower payment, lower rate, consolidation, settlement), then the plan.

Step 3

How to use it

Say

My client is behind on a high-interest loan — how do we negotiate it down?Walk this client through restructuring their business debt.How should they approach the landlord about rent relief?

What comes back

  • A step-by-step coaching plan: prioritized debts, the negotiation approach per creditor, a cash-flow-based repayment sequence, and what to say.

Then

  • Bring the plan into the client meeting; come back after the creditor conversations with what they offered.

Tips from the field

  • Get the actual statements — the coaching is only as good as the balances and rates it's working from.

Questions people ask

FAQ

New financing rather than existing debt?
Underwriter & Capital Coach.
Is it safe to paste client details?
Paste only what the deliverable needs. Nothing you paste is stored by the skill, but the chat itself is a record — treat it like any other working document.
It did something odd. Who do I ask?
Brandon Mason. Say which skill and what you said to start it; a screenshot of the reply helps.