South Africans under debt counselling to increase 500% in 6 months
The number of South Africans under debt review is likely to increase five fold over the next 6 months and will see as many as 150 000 South Africans under the debt recovery programme by June this year. Luke Hirst, MD of debt management experts, Debtbusters.co.za says that if the last month is anything to go by, those early estimates may even be conservative.
"We received a mass of applications from indebted South Africans over the festive season and particularly since the 1st of January; we don't expect the numbers to subside any time soon. We've been handling debt review cases for more than a year now and the first week of this year has been our busiest period ever."
"Once the bills for Christmas gifts and festive season spending arrive in the post boxes I would expect a further increase in applications - holiday time can be costly and South Africans are well and truly struggling under the strain of the current economic climate."
There are currently 28 000 South Africans under debt review, with the NCR's projection figures suggesting that as many as 200 000 South Africans could be under debt review by the middle of this year.
"Though the debt review process has been going for just over a year, indebted South Africans are finally seeing that delaying the process of tackling debt is making matters worse. The surge in debt review applications over the last months would suggest that many South Africans have finally reached a point at which there is no alternative. I would encourage anybody who feels that they may be in strife to contact a professional debt counsellor to assess their situation immediately because skipping a payment is the first step on a very slippery slope."
Debt Counselling is the process of working with a registered debt counsellor to restructure your monthly repayments to something you can reasonably afford. As the largest NCR accredited counsellor, Debtbusters can negotiate with creditors on the consumer's behalf and unlike debt administration, at the end of the debt counselling period the consumer is not left with a black mark against their name and can reapply for credit.