What is Debt Counselling?
Negociate Credit Solutions offers Credit Counselling and Debt Counselling to help ease your financial stress, address your financial concerns, and develop a plan for living a financially secure life. The plan we develop is not only approved by your Credit Providers, but will also assist you in reducing your monthly debt repayment into one consolidated installment at lower interest rates.
Debt Counselling offers you unbiased informative advice to get you out of debt
Debt Counselling or Debt Review is managed by Registered Debt Counsellors who have been given the mandate to renegotiate existing contractual agreements with Credit Providers.
The Debt Counsellor will conduct a detailed Debt Review Assessment. You will be provided with all the information you need to make an informed decision about how to improve your current financial situation.
Once you agree to the terms and conditions of the process, the Debt Counsellor will then proceed to renegotiate your contracts with your Credit Providers.
The renegotiated contracts consist of longer terms and lower interest rates which reduces the overall monthly installment paid to debt. This leaves more money in your budget for living expenses.
You are not bound by the longer terms. If your financial situation improves you can pay more towards your Debt Review installment which will reduce the terms negotiated. You benefit from the lower interest rates when you pay more. Why? More money goes to the capital balance of the loan and not to interest charges. This reduces the term much faster compared to your original contractual agreements which had much higher interest rates.
The guidelines for these new contracts have already been put in place by the National Credit Regulator and all Registered Credit Providers. As long as Debt Counsellors follow these guidelines, the new contracts are approved without any issues.
EXAMPLES OF TERMS:
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Small Unsecured loans and credit cards are settled within 24 months.
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Large Unsecured loans and credit cards must be settled within 60 months.
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Vehicles can be settled anywhere between 24-84 months depending on the current contractual term of your vehicle.
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Home Loans will only remain under Debt Review for as long as it takes to settle your unsecured debt and vehicle.
How does Debt Counselling Work?
Debt Counselling is a service offered by registered Debt Counsellors. They assess your current financial situation and provide you with ways to reduce debt in a manner that your Credit Providers will agree to.
Debt Counselling renegotiates your current Contractual Agreements with Credit Providers
We know that your biggest fear is not being aware of all of your financial options so that you can make the best decision for your current financial situation.
We want to put your mind at ease and provide you with all your options, so that you can make an informed decision that works for you.
Negociate Credit Solutions is a National organisation focused on financial wellness. Our financial experts are here to talk with you.
We’ll help you:
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Understand your financial situation and goals
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Explain your Debt Management options
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Offer recommendations for how to get out of debt
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Develop a personalised action plan to meet your goals
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Renegotiate your existing contracts with Credit Providers
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Personally guide and assist you through the entire process
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Communicate with Credit Providers on your behalf
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Improve your Credit Score once the process is completed so that you can obtain credit again.
Your call will be answered by a financial expert who understands that hardships happen to good people. We will treat your information with care and confidentiality. We’re committed to your success in becoming debt free and credit worthy again.
The Debt Counselling session can be conducted over the phone, or we can meet with you in person. No appointment is necessary for phone sessions. Scheduled appointments are required for meetings held in person.
What does Debt Counselling Cost?
The National Credit Regulator and Credit Providers are fully aware that you cannot pay for Debt Counselling Services out of Pocket. All Fees are therefore included as part of your monthly installment. The Fees are also standardised for all Debt Counsellors to ensure that they remain the same no matter which Debt Counsellor you approach for assistance.
All Costs are included in your Installment.
No out of pocket costs with Debt Counselling.
The following fees are included in the first 2 months of the process.
DEBT COUNSELLING RESTRUCTURE FEE:
This fee is charged once off in the first month of the process. The Credit Providers have allowed debt counselling fees to be deducted from the installment as they understand that these fees cannot be paid out of pocket by the client.
This fee is charged to obtain your current contractual agreements from Credit Providers and to draft the new re-negotiated Debt Review contracts.
This fee is equal to the value of your first installment but will not exceed R8,000.00 if the installment happens to be more than that. Eg. If your installment is R1,000.00 the restructuring fee will be R1,000.00. If your installment is R25,000.00 the restructuring fee cannot be more than R8,000.00.
DEBT COUNSELLING LEGAL FEE:
This fee is charged once off in the second month of the process and is paid to an attorney to put your new contracts in place. The Credit Providers have allowed legal fees to be deducted from the installment as they understand that these fees cannot be paid out of pocket by the client.
There are 2 ways of finalising the new contracts:
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By a judge in the Magistrate's Court - The fee is equal to the value of your second installment not exceeding R6,000.00 if your Debt Review installment happens to be more than R6,000.00. Eg. If you installment is R1,000.00 the legal fee will be R1,000.00. If your installment is R25,000.00 the legal fee cannot be more than R6,000.00.
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By the National Consumer Tribunal - The fee is only R1200.00.
The above fees are necessary to cover the costs associated with the process as it is admin intensive. Fees are the same for all debt counsellors and are regulated by the by the National Credit Regulator (NCR). The fees can be viewed on the NCR's website at www.ncr.org.za.
Negociate Credit Solutions have the new Debt Review contracts certified by the National Consumer Tribunal and so our clients benefit from the lower legal fee. In rare instances we will have no choice but to approach the Magistrate's Court, You will be made aware of this in advance.
Advantages of Debt Counselling?
If you are struggling to pay back debt, your choices are to consolidate debt into a single loan or to see a Debt Counsellor. Consolidating Debt into a loan does not necessarily improve your situation. Why? The interest rates and installments are not reduced significantly. Debt Counselling can assist with your spending habits, improve your cash flow and reduce installments and interest rates by as much as 50%.
Debt Counselling improves cash flow, simplifies payments and reduces stress
HERE ARE SOME OF THE OTHER BENEFITS TO DEBT COUNSELLING:
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You are protected from further Legal Action from your Credit Providers.
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Debt that is currently sitting at collection agencies is handed back to the original Credit Provider. Collection agencies disrupt your life with continuous phone calls for payment arrangements. This will come to an end with Debt Counselling.
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Any arrears, whether on loans or credit cards, vehicles or home loans, are capitilised back into the outstanding debt so that you no longer have arrears to bring up to date.
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Debt Counsellors can reduce your monthly installment significantly. They have the mandate to renegotiate better deals with your Credit Providers, like lower installment and interest rates.
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Multiple credit obligations are consolidated into one manageable payment. This payment is distributed to your Credit Providers in line with the new renegotiated contracts.
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You will no longer receive calls from Credit Providers asking for payment arrangements.
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Your Debt Counsellor will manage your Credit Providers and Accounts on your behalf. You no longer have to spend hours dealing with impersonal call centres and managing your own debt.
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Debt counsellors can offer financial and budgeting advice. This advice can be put to good use for all future financial decisions, ensuring that you don’t make the same mistakes again.
Disadvantages of Debt Counselling?
While you are under Debt Counselling you will not have access to further credit. Income and living expenses must be managed very carefully to ensure that you stay on track. WHile this may seem as a disadvantage, having access to credit is what got you into this situation in the first place. While it might not seem so, learning to live within your means can be a benefit to you in the long run.
Debt Counselling will prevent you from accessing further credit until the process is completed
HERE ARE SOME OF DISADVANTAGES OF DEBT COUNSELLING:
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You will not have access to more credit while you are under Debt Counselling. Why? Your existing Credit Providers have assisted you by reducing your installment and interest rate. Why then should you be allowed to take more credit with other Credit Providers at higher interest rates and installments?
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You may not qualify for Debt Counselling – Look at our qualifying criteria for more details.
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Judgements cannot be included under Debt Review. Debt that is handed over to collection agencies where judgement hasn’t yet been issued can however be included. Your Debt Counsellor will confirm this with you.
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Your credit report will show that you are currently under Debt Review. This notice is removed once the process is completed.
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It is for this reason that you take the process very seriously and commit to completing it. Not completing the process will put you in a worse financial situation.
Qualifying Criteria Debt Counselling?
Anyone can apply for Debt Counselling even if they are not credit worthy or have adverse notices on their credit reports. There are still however other important factors to consider before applying.
Here are some of the criteria that you should meet before applying for Debt Counselling
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
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Must be Employed or have an Income. i.e. Spousal support, Family support, self-employed, retrenchment income.
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If Married in Community of Property your Spouse must be included in the process. There are no exceptions.
- If Married Out of Community of Property your spouse can be excluded from the process. Where a home loan is concerned you can still include the property under Debt Review which will not affect the joint owner, partner or spouse. If you chose to exclude the property it will not benefit from the lower interest rate and installment. You will continue to pay the current contractual agreement.
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Affordability. There must be enough available income after living expenses to service the new monthly Debt Review installment. If this is not the case then we can look at other Debt Management solutions to assist you further.
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Total living expenses should not exceed Income.
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Must have a valid South African bank account into which your salary is paid each month.
