The Debt Review Process

How Does Debt Review Work?

The Debt Review or Debt Counselling process is not as complicated as many people imagine. Below we show explain the exact steps involved in the Debt Review Process. From applying for Debt Review, all the way to getting out of Debt Review.

Here are the steps for debt review

Step 1

Before you officially apply for debt review, we have a look at your current financial position; we work out your income vs your living expenses, and then we look at your debt exposure. If you are over-indebted, we start the process of Debt Review if this is the best solution for your situation.

Use our free Debt Review Calculator and work out how much you could save each month!

Step 2

Once we’ve had a look at the basics, your go-to Debt Counsellor will send you a formal application (it’s called Form 16); this collects all your personal information, income, expenses, and creditor information and all your debt information, such as bond accounts, vehicle finance agreements, loan agreements, clothing accounts, arrear doctor bills – all your debt.

Step 3

We know that most people have never asked for Debt Review help, so we are taking the time here to give you all the detail so that you know exactly what you can expect.  Once you have signed the Form 16 we will send a notice (known as Form 17.1) to your creditors. This notice informs your creditors that you have applied for debt review and your financial situation is being assessed. It further requests your credit providers to issue your Debt Counsellor with a Certificate of Balance (COB).

Step 4

This COB is a summary of your contract with the creditor and confirms the outstanding balance, interest rate, remaining term etc. of your credit agreement. During this phase of your Debt Review your Debt Counsellor will also list you on the National Credit Bureau’s NCR Debt Help database upon which you will be allocated an NCR number as confirmation that you have applied for debt review.

Step 5

The NCR will notify all credit bureaus that you have applied for debt review. This is to ensure you do not incur further credit whilst having applied for debt review.  Before your Debt Counsellor proceeds to the next step you can still withdraw from the Debt Review process by giving your Debt Counsellor a written instruction that you wish to withdraw.

Step 6

If your Debt Counsellor does not receive a notice to withdraw, your go-to person will proceed with the next stage by assessing your financial position with the COB’s (your creditors confirmations of your debt). This process again confirms that you are over-indebted, and we then confirm this with a Confirmation of Over-Indebtedness Notice (Form 17.2); we then use the information provided on the COB to draft a repayment proposal to your credit providers.

This repayment proposal will display a list of all credit providers, the current outstanding balances as per the COB’s received, the offered instalment, interest rates and repayment terms of your debt review proposal. The good news is that in some instances the interest rates are reduced to 1.0% on unsecured debt. This is just one of the ways in which Debt Review works for you.

Step 7

The Debt Counsellor and Credit Providers will then negotiate the repayment terms of the payment proposal and should all credit providers consent to the proposal the matter will be referred to the National Consumer Tribunal for a Consent Order. In the instance that one or more credit providers do not consent to the proposal the matter will be referred to the Magistrate’s Court in your jurisdiction for adjudication. In most instances you do not have to attend these hearings and the attorneys appointed by your Debt Counsellor attend to this.

Step 8

You start paying your debt review instalment from the same month as you have signed the Form 16 meaning you no longer have to pay your credit providers the contractual instalments. All Debt Review payments are made to a Payment Distribution Agent (PDA). In terms of the National Credit Act, each Debt Counsellor must contract a registered PDA in order to distribute the payments of its clients to the relevant Credit Providers. The PDA will distribute the funds to your creditors until you have settled all your debt. More on the PDA and distributions later in the article.

Your go-to Debt Counsellor takes it all from here.  No more creditor harassment.  Your go-to liaises with your creditors which means you do not have to. Ever.

Our professional team will assist you every step of the process and attend to all creditor queries on your behalf