Reckless loan relief a benefit of debt review
Proposals to bring relief to borrowers in no-income and low-income groups
Debt counselling might not work for everyone, but if done properly it does uncover cases of reckless lending and the greed of some credit providers. If your debt was granted recklessly, it can be set aside by the courts. The effectiveness of debt counselling and its cost to overindebted consumers are under the spotlight as parliament's portfolio committee on trade and industry considers a debt-relief policy to address South Africa's chronic level of overindebtedness. Government's proposed debt-relief policy aims to give chronically overindebted consumers who have no way of escaping their debt the opportunity of a fresh start. Before a briefing on the proposed policy last week, members of the committee expressed disquiet on hearing some of the fees charged in debt counselling, including the debt counsellor's restructuring fee, which can be as much as R6,000 before VAT. Debt-counselling fees are set by the National Credit Regulator in terms of a non-binding guideline. In other words, ...
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