Fighting Financial Over-Indebtedness in South Africa
Humblest apologies for not posting for a while to readers old and new! I thought to share this nugget with you of a good interview on what the NCA brought for consumers. This was shot last year (2007) but very relevant.
I would love to hear your opinion / view of things now that we are well into the NCA. Do post you comments below.
It really is a double whammy kind of situation for consumers getting that bond approved these days.
As consumers we are feeling the pinch in as far as our financial situation goes trying to meet all those debt obligations. This is getting to the point where even if you had budgeted “correctly” a year ago, you most likely will find yourself in the redline if not over exposed. On the other hand the credit granting law has changed requiring banks to consider “true affordability” and no gestimates when assessing whether to grant a mortgage / home loan.
A good source for tracking the extent of these effects is First National Bank’s Property Barometer report, published quarterly.
Click here to continue reading ‘The effects of interest hikes and the NCA on the property market’
The credit bureaus have been inundated with telephone calls over the past weeks. This has been a phenomenon way bigger than when the free credit reports where launched.
Now what I find disturbing, and no I’m not necessarily better or mightier than thee, is that the regulations, section 73 of the National Credit Act have been out for sometime now (I can post the date later). These basically govern how this much sort after amnesty is to be applied i.e. who qualifies, etc, etc…
Click here to continue reading ‘Credit Amnesty last day(s) rush, why do we leave things to the last minute?’
The long negotiated credit amnesty is coming to an end! You may have seen the campaigns by the National Credit Regulator and the Credit Information Ombud on TV or heard on radio stations. This is a call to South African consumers who may have adverse information, to take advantage of this once off opportunity to clean your slate.
To read more about the credit information amnesty click here and find out if you qualify.
P.S. Be patient when contacting the credit bureaus as they are currently being flooded with calls as consumers race against time!
First of all, blacklist is old school; the preferred term these days is adverse information. I am blacklisted = I have adverse information on my credit report. This is important and perhaps we can dedicate an article to the blacklisting terminology another day.
Back to the subject at hand… The window is closing in soon, take advantage of the “credit bureau amnesty” that has been put together specially for you. You have until September 2007 to have certain information on your credit report removed in a less costly fashion. This does not necessarily mean you do not have to pay your debts! Yes I love freebies too…
Click here to continue reading ‘Blacklisted? 16 days to go to recover your bad credit quickly’
Ever received an offer via mail when you’ve never asked for it? Be it a retails store card or a credit card offer?
Ever been offered a credit card by a teller at 1 of the chain stores that also have credit cards? This would happen if you use a credit card to pay for items.
The rationale behind was simple. If you have a card from my competitor you probably are good risk, so I might as well fight for market share errm, wallet share.
In some cases it would seem no proper affordability study would be done since you just received the offer by post… Ditto 4 retail store accounts
Enter NCA…
Click here to continue reading ‘Pre approved offers - fighting for the lion share of your wallet.’
‘picked up this article from Kulula.com’s inflight magazine, comic life.
In the article kulula.comic (as the magazine is called) tries to list what kulula.com have done or have been doing to support the NCA initiatives and / or protect the consumer.
Click here to continue reading ‘Kulula.com takes a stab at explaining the NCA to its “fans”’
Most of us do not take the time to compare rates we are being offered by various credit grantors when applying for all sorts of credit, which is actually reckless of us.
When applying for credit what you should do is approach more than one (preferably 3) credit grantors and compare the various offerings to see which one ultimately costs you less in terms of repayments and total repayment. Yes it is time consuming but when you do the maths, you will realise it was worth it at the end.
Now go ahead and ask for a quotation… Actually you should DEMAND a quotation (since you should be given a quotation in a prescribed form (-¹nogal), setting out the principal debt, the proposed distribution of that amount, the interest rate and other credit costs, the total cost of the proposed agreement !)
See section 92 of the National Credit Act which is further detailed on the National Credit Regulations’ section 28. That’s if you are courageous enough and maybe you can help us decipher this wonderful piece of legislature!
Click here to continue reading ‘Shopping around for better interest rates, if you have the time and want a better deal that is’
In the past you may have experienced firsthand interest rate charges as high as 100%, or you may have heard friends tell you horrific stories. Some of you might have seen the story ran by Carte Blanche detailing how consumers where sometimes led into signing Micro Loan contracts instead of the normal Hire Purchase (Instalment Sale Agreements) all for a better profit at the poor consumer’s cost.
What has the National Credit Act done for us with regards to this subject?
there are some companies / websites out there advertising that consumers can obtain copies of their credit bureau reports from them at exorbitant fees.
Did you know that: -
Now that you know, what are you going to do?
Click here to continue reading ‘Don’t Get Ripped Off on Your Personal / Consumer Credit Report’
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