A friend of mine has fallen on hard times and tried to rehabilitate herself (debt review) via measures provided in the National Credit Act - it was a nightmare experience for her.
Having seen evidence of unprofessional conduct by a DC provider and greedy banks, I was wondering how many others out there have similar experiences. Given data that I reviewed, I have wondered if the National Credit Act helps consumers or is it toothless legislation?
I will elaborate by outlining the experiences of my friend:
After 18 months the DC provider was unable to get this matter resolved. In the meantime, her creditors continued to charge interest (up to 21.5%) - all major banks and not small-time operators. The DC provider miscalculated interim payments, which meant that even though my friend did EVERYTHING required, the outstanding balance continued to escalate.
Eventually, seeing the stress that this was causing, I offered to negotiate directly with her creditors. All were quite co-operative, but one (major bank) was unwilling to consider a reduced settlement and were adamant that their interest rate was “reasonable” - despite her having a squeaky clean credit record before this.
Anyhow, that creditor aside, we negotiated settlement with the others (inside two days).
The incompetence of the DC provider, however, caused fruitless expenditure for a non-existent “service” and worsened my friend’s financial woes. If she had continued along this route, she would never have been able to financially rehabilitate herself.
The DC provider might get a slap on the wrist (at best) after a complaint was lodged with the NCR but the damage is done.
I know that some would castigate consumers for lacking the discipline to manage their finances, but that is really a totally different issue. It is a reality of the times that we live in, that consumers need to turn to credit simply to survive – before they realise it, it has spiralled beyond their control.
We see a plethora of DC providers out there advertising their services – do they really provide relief or is it better to go directly to creditors? Then the banks – are they all driven by profit/greed or do they honestly consider each case on its merit?
Finally, the National Credit Act – is it user-friendly or just another piece of toothless legislation? I would love to hear shared experiences of others and their views on these questions.
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Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.