How can we help you?

We offer a comprehensive assessment of your current financial situation and advise on tailor made relief to suit your needs. From budgeting, negotiating with your creditors, Administration, Debt Counseling and Insolvency we assist with it all.  We also have a registered debt counselor to investigate reckless credit and scrupulous credit practices.

As part of our community outreach program, we have created the 7 Step Debt Awareness Program that offers practical and free advice to becoming debt free. 

What is Debt Review

In the event that your monthly repayments on your house, car, credit cards and accounts have risen so high that you are facing blacklisting, one option is going into debt counselling or debt review.

This process was established through the National Credit Act (NCA) and benefits you in that legal action cannot be taken against you while you are in the process of debt counselling and paying off your debts through a reasonable repayment plan.

How does Debt Review work?

You will provide the debt counsellor (DC) with the necessary documents and a list of your expenses.

The DC will determine if your payments are unaffordable on your current income.

The DC will determine how much you need to live on and what is available to repay your debts.

The DC will explain the whole process and all costs involved thoroughly and you will be able to ask questions.

There are no up-front fees payable. The cost of the Debt Review application will be incorporated in your monthly repayment plan.

The DC will request certificate of balance (COB) from your credit providers.

The DC will inform the credit bureaus to list you as being under dent counselling. – This is NOT like blacklisting – it’s a protection.  It will be removed completely once you have paid off your debt.

The DC makes a proposal to your credit providers with a reduction in fees and interest, if they all agree, al legal consent order will be obtained.

Once agreement has been reached the DC will give the final repayment plan and submit it to the National Payment Distribution Agency (NPDA).

The NPDA will receive the monthly payment that you make and distribute is between the credit providers according to the repayment plan.  You can also elect to pay your creditors directly.

You are obligated to pay the monthly installment until the whole amount has been paid off.

The DC will then inform the credit bureaus to remove the debt counselling status.

!!! WARNING !!!

Before you contact anyone regarding Debt Review, please speak to us about the pitfalls of Debt Counselling. 

DO NOT USE A DEBT COUNSELLOR THAT YOU CANNOT CONSULT WITH FACE TO FACE.

There are about 6 Debt Counsellors in Rustenburg, speak to one of them personally, do not make use of call centers or Debt Counsellors that are not in the area.

NOTE 

Once a Debt Review Court Order is granted, you cannot exit Debt Review until you have paid off all your debt. (Except for long term finance, like a bond)

There are 3 ways to get out of Debt Counselling:

1. Pay your Debt, thereafter your DC will clear your name with the Credit Bureau's and give you a Clearance Certificate

2. Apply to Court to have the listing removed / you have to prove to the Court that you do not need the Debt Counselling any more.

3. Apply to Court to have the listing removed / you have to prove to the Court that you never gave consent to be placed under Debt Review.

Alternatively, where no. 3 is applicable, you can lodge a complaint against the DC with the National Credit Regulator (NCR)

If a Court order was granted, when you applied for debt review, you will only be able to exit once your debt has been settled.

!!! WARNING !!!

Before you contact anyone regarding the Removal of Debt Review, please speak to us.  There are a lot of scams out there that promise to have it removed, but they never do.  Once you have paid them, they will give you a lot of reasons why you do not qualify.

DO NOT USE A DEBT COUNSELLOR THAT YOU CANNOT CONSULT WITH FACE TO FACE.

There are about 6 Debt Counsellors in Rustenburg, speak to one of them personally, do not make use of call centers or Debt Counsellors that are not in the area.

NOTE 

Once a Debt Review Court Order is granted, you cannot exit Debt Review until you have paid off all your debt. (Except for long term finance, like a bond)

What is Blacklisting?

To be blacklisted means that you have a bad credit record. This is probably because you have not paid a creditor which you owed money or perhaps you did not pay them on time.

It can have serious consequences and you might find it very difficult to buy on credit or get finance.  Even if you are able to get finance, it is likely that you will have to pay a higher interest rate or put down a large deposit. It is NEVER a good idea to be blacklisted and if you are, it is important to clear your name as soon as you can.

Once you have been blacklisted you will have a bad credit record for anything from 2 – 10 years, depending on the type of listing that you have against you. 

When paying back the money that you owe to your Creditors is not enough to have your name cleared from the credit records.  We can assist you in approaching your creditors for consent to removing such listings and thereby improving your credit record.

We offer a variety of other debt remedies, including Administration (Removal of Administration), Liquidation, Sequestration, Negotiating with Creditors, Budgeting etc.

Exiting Debt Review:

Van Vuuren v Roets and Others (37407/2018) [2019] ZAGPJHC 286; [2019] 4 All SA 583 (GJ); 2019 (6) SA 506 (GJ) (3 September 2019)

http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAGPJHC/2019/286.html