Debt Review Glossary: Forms, Sections & Terms

National Credit Act (NCA): The National Credit Act 34 of 2005, the law that governs consumer credit in South Africa, including debt review, reckless lending and how credit providers may enforce agreements.
National Credit Regulator (NCR): The regulator that registers credit providers, credit bureaus and debt counsellors and enforces the National Credit Act. Its registers are public at www.ncr.org.za.
Debt counsellor: A person registered with the NCR to assess over-indebtedness and restructure debts under section 86. Their registration number starts with NCRDC; Debt365's is NCRDC2403.
Debt review: The legal process, and the status on your credit record, that follows an application to a debt counsellor under section 86. See what debt review is.
Over-indebtedness (section 79): Being unable to satisfy all your credit obligations in a timely manner from your income. It is the test a debt counsellor applies before you can be placed under debt review.
Form 16: The application for debt review that you sign with a debt counsellor.
Form 17.1: The notice a debt counsellor sends to all your credit providers and the credit bureaus within 5 business days of your application. From then on the bureaus show you as under debt review.
Form 17.2: The notice of the debt counsellor's finding on whether you are over-indebted, issued within 30 business days of the application.
Certificate of balance (COB): A statement from a credit provider giving the debt counsellor the balance, instalment and terms of your account, used to build the restructuring proposal.
Section 86: The section of the National Credit Act that lets an over-indebted consumer apply to a debt counsellor for debt review.
Section 87 order: The magistrate's court order that makes a debt restructuring binding on your credit providers. A court can also use its section 87 powers to find that you are no longer over-indebted.
Consent order: A restructuring agreed by your credit providers and confirmed by the National Consumer Tribunal or a court, instead of a contested section 87 hearing.
Payment distribution agent (PDA): An NCR-registered company that receives your single monthly debt review payment and pays it out to each credit provider.
After-care fee: The monthly fee a debt counsellor charges for managing your plan after restructuring. It is capped by the NCR's debt counselling fee guideline.
Form 19 (clearance certificate): The certificate a debt counsellor must issue under section 71 once you have paid all the short-term debts in your plan. It ends debt review and requires the bureaus to remove the flag. See the clearance certificate explained.
Section 71: The section of the National Credit Act that obliges a debt counsellor to issue a clearance certificate when the consumer's obligations under the restructuring have been met.
Rescission: Setting aside a court order. In debt review it refers to asking a court to cancel the order that placed you under debt review, for example because it was granted in error.
Section 129 notice: The letter a credit provider must send before it can take legal action on a defaulted credit agreement. It must point you to options such as a debt counsellor.
Reinstatement (section 129(3)): Bringing a defaulted agreement back into force by paying the arrears plus permitted default charges and legal costs before the goods are sold.
Voluntary surrender (section 127): Returning goods bought on credit, such as a car, to the credit provider yourself. The goods are sold and you remain liable for any shortfall.
Rule 46A: The High Court rule that requires a court to consider alternatives and authorise the sale in execution before a person's primary residence can be sold to pay a debt.
Reckless lending (section 80): Credit granted without a proper affordability assessment, or when the assessment showed you could not afford it. A court can set aside or suspend a recklessly granted agreement.
Prescribed debt: A debt that has expired, usually after three years without payment, written acknowledgement or summons, under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. See prescribed debt.
Section 126B: The section of the National Credit Act that prohibits selling a prescribed debt or continuing to collect it.
Credit bureau: A company that keeps credit records, such as TransUnion, Experian, XDS and VCCB. Bureaus show your debt review status and must remove it when debt review ends.
Administration order: A magistrate's court order under section 74 of the Magistrates' Courts Act for people with total debt of R50,000 or less. An administrator collects one payment and pays creditors.

Debt Review Glossary: Every Form, Section and Term Explained

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