By Hennie Pretorius, journalist, Justmoney
Guests countrywide attended the inaugural annual Debt Review Awards ceremony which took place on Saturday, July 19th in the heart of Cape Town at 6 Spin Street.
Debt Review Awards, a debt industry awards programme recognising excellence in the field of debt review, was split into two sections: the public voting awards and the industry panel awards.
Public vote
The public voting awards were decided by the amount of votes each candidate received from the public. The winner of each category received a ‘golden’ piggy as their reward.
Hyphen was awarded a ‘golden’ piggy for most votes in the Payment Distribution Agency (PDA) section, while First National Bank, Mr Price and Wesbank each received a the same accolade in the Credit Provider category.
The most voted for debt counsellor award went to Ancil Van Heerden for favourite ‘small/boutique’ debt counsellor.
Meanwhile Consumer Debt Help won the favourite ‘medium’ sized debt counsellor and Debtsafe was voted the best ‘large’ sized debt counsellor.
Industry Panel Awards
Awards under the panel were based on ‘initiative’ to improve and ‘effort’ to make debt review work.
Various winners for credit providers included Izwe Loans (micro finance), Mr Price (retail loans), Consumer Friend (large/retail), Wesbank (vehicle) and First National Bank (Banks).
In the PDA’s category the National Payment Distribution Agency took home three golden piggy awards, while DC Partner and Hyphen each won one golden piggy award.
In the ‘small/boutique’ category for debt counsellors both Paarl Attorney and debt counsellor Adri de Bruyn received a golden piggy award. Philippa Davies won the ‘medium’ sized debt counsellor award. The best ‘large’ debt counsellor panel award went to DebtBusters.
Ian Wason, CEO of Intelligent Debt Management (IDM), received the award on behalf of DebtBusters: “To get this sort of recognition for all our hard work is fantastic,” he said.
Earlier on in the evening Wason received an award on behalf of Consumer Debt Help for the most voted for ‘medium’ sized debt counsellor. DebtBusters and Consumer Debt Help are both part of the IDM group.
A successful evening
Event organiser Zak King, editor for industry magazine Debtfree, commended those in the industry for the work they are doing to help the consumer.
Part of the proceedings included clearance certificates being issued by registered debt counsellors Debtsafe and Credit Matters to previously indebted consumers, adding a smile to many.
“I would say it was a refreshing change of pace and allowed those in the industry a moment to recognize the hard work of others on opposite sides of the industry. I think it is events like this and moments like when the various consumers got their clearance certificates that help us all remember why we work in the industry, and that we are all working toward a common goal of rehabilitating consumers at the end of the day,” said King.