There are more than 138 000 people being helped by Debt Counsellors in South Africa and that figure will rise  by 10, 000 per month.

Potentially tragic situations still keep happening.

A client under debt review needed to pay the hospital R2,900. When her sister transferred the money into her bank savings account, the bank with whom she has an account seized the money and put it into her credit card which has debt. Theoretically they can do that.
She was hysterical when she phoned the Debt Counsellor! He spent the whole day negotiating with the bank, pointing out the crisis his client was in ... untill they relented. If she did not have a Debt Counsellor to assist her she could have been in serious difficulty.

Debt is like having an addiction, but in the same way that an addiction can’t be cured until you own up to it and go for help, the situation will get worse and there will be no improvement until you admit to it and get help.

Change your life, go for help today!

Those in debt, need solutions. Some banks still try to seize the homes of those under Debt Counselling. Once an individual is under debt counselling, no one can touch his or her assets for the first 60 working days while the debt is being renegotiated. After that, creditors cannot remove assets as long as the person sticks to the restructured loan or credit agreement.

For at lest 18 months more we will see rising numbers of consumers applying for debt relief.
There is a lag between the economy lifting and the personal circumstances of individuals improving.

People are only now coming forward for Debt Counselling. They have been using their savings and investments to cope, but now they have no other choice but to get help through Debt Counselling.

Banks a year ago were offering easy credit, now they’re seizing the homes and cars they gave credit for.

Some banks tell consumers that they will help them restructure their mortgage debt “but often people are in debt to multiple institutions, you can’t prioritise one debt and ignore the others, there has to be a holistic approach otherwise your situation will worsen.

It is only with Debt Counselling that you get a cheap, impartial, approach that legally binds everyone to a solution that benefits all.”

A change to the in duplum rule of the National Credit Act by Judge BR du Plessis in the Pretoria High Court in August means that the banks that hold your bond cannot charge you more than twice the interest of what you owe on your bond if you fall into arrears.

So for example, in normal bond agreements, banks rely on charging you three to four times the cost of a bond in interest over 20 years. If you borrow R1m today, you will pay back between R3m to R4m.

The new in duplum rule says you may not pay back more in interest than the amount outstanding. So if your bond is for R1m, you cannot be charged more than R2m in all for capital, interest and costs.

This means the bank will lose at least R1m. It is no surprise that the banks have already lodged an appeal against this.

Payback the amount owned

Many consumers think it is better to sell their house or car but don’t realise they have to pay back any amount owing! 
It is better for them to apply for Debt Counselling so the terms of the loan can be restructured and they don’t lose the house or car. It is critical to get help before legal action is taken ... once legal action has begun, the Debt Counsellor is limited in how much he can assist.

Debt Counselling is most definitely working, it is injecting significant amounts of money back into the economy each month which helps businesses stay afloat and jobs to remain secure, but also forms an important educative tool in teaching consumers how to effectively manage money.

Change your life, go for help today!