Building a debt resolution legal information platform for Illinois Legal Aid Online

Challenge

Debt is one of the most common and stressful problems faced by users of Illinois Legal Aid Online. People often arrived with limited financial knowledge, high anxiety, and no clear sense of where to begin.

Although Illinois Legal Aid Online already had relevant information on its existing platform, it was not structured as a single guided path for someone dealing with consumer debt in the moment, nor did it include financial options to resolve debt problems. Users needed help identifying their situation more clearly, understanding realistic options for addressing their specific debt situation, and taking the next steps without feeling overwhelmed.

Together, we identified that the experience had to remain accurate, simple, and grounded in ILAO's plain-language, trusted legal aid content. It also needed to be easy for the organisation to maintain and for users to rely on when seeking help.

Approach 

Design workshops and stakeholder discussions helped build a clear understanding of user needs. This clarified who the platform was for and what barriers people faced when trying to get help with debt in different situations.

Design and experience decisions focused on making the journey easy to follow. Instead of overwhelming users with information, the platform guides them through clear questions and step-by-step next actions.

With the assessment workflow and logic defined, the goal was to translate that thinking into an accessible product that fits naturally within the broader Illinois Legal Aid Online platform.

Solution

A guided debt journey built on ILAO's trusted content

Debt Help Illinois was delivered as a responsive, accessible website centred around a guided assessment experience.

Users begin by answering a short series of questions about their debt situation. Based on their responses, the platform identifies relevant debt types and connects users directly to the most applicable options to resolve their debt, built upon Illinois Legal Aid Online's existing resources and those of its partner, Working Credit, which provided financial option information.

Rather than replacing Illinois Legal Aid Online's debt information, Debt Help Illinois makes it easier to reach and understand through a structured journey.

Reusing approved legal aid guidance in a clearer structure

Existing Illinois Legal Aid Online content related to debt, money, collections, and consumer law was indexed and reused. Using a custom AI solution, the material was adapted to fit the guided flow so users could move through structured steps while relying on the same verified legal information maintained by Illinois Legal Aid Online.

Helping users track progress and return over time

Debt resolution involves multiple actions over time. Logged-in users access a personalised dashboard that displays their entered debts, relevant options, and tracks their progress in completing the steps for the options they are pursuing.

Guidance is available without login, but saving progress and returning later requires authentication. This allows users to continue their journey without re-entering information.

The assessment is powered by Landbot, which is configured with the Debt Help Illinois site’s structured resources and predefined logic. Users answer a series of guided questions about their financial situation. Based on the user’s responses, the website generates tailored responses within the defined framework.

These responses are then processed by the site's backend, where structured debt entries and related entities are created accordingly. This forms the foundation of the user's action plan, with sequenced steps that can be marked complete. Progress is securely stored and clearly reflected when users return.

Integrated into the Illinois Legal Aid Online ecosystem

The workflow operates as a connected extension of the broader Illinois Legal Aid Online platform. Assessment responses generate structured profile data and link directly to relevant resources already maintained by Illinois Legal Aid Online.

The platform also includes an AI-supported editorial workflow with compliance controls. Editors submit structured prompts that are processed using only Illinois Legal Aid Online's approved knowledge sources, ensuring outputs remain aligned with verified legal guidance and organisational standards.

AI-supported drafting within defined legal boundaries

As the guided experience evolved, the need arose to draft contextual, situation-specific explanations without expanding beyond approved legal guidance. An AI-supported drafting layer was introduced to address this.

Editors submit structured prompts within the system. These are processed through Illinois Legal Aid Online's AI application, which generates responses using only the organisation's approved source materials. The model does not introduce external knowledge or speculative advice.

The result is situation-specific guidance that stays within verified legal boundaries. All outputs remain traceable to existing Illinois Legal Aid Online guidance and are subject to editorial oversight before use.

Outcome

Since launch, Debt Help Illinois has grown steadily in users served, with roughly 22 per cent growth month on month and approximately 3,300 visitors in February alone.

Of the 1,902 users who started the debt assessment, 1,275 completed the initial filtering and prioritisation flow. That is a majority of users moving through a guided legal process they would otherwise have had to navigate on their own.

Illinois Legal Aid Online now has a focused, self-contained experience for people dealing with consumer debt, built entirely from its existing verified content. Users arrive with a specific debt problem and leave with a clear, structured set of next steps that reflect their situation.

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