Thousands of South Africans apply for debt counselling

By Cindy Witten
06 March 2009

Following the recent financial meltdown, just about everyone has had to tighten their purse strings. The crisis has caused many South Africans to lose their jobs.

Due to the lack of an income, South Africans have turned to the convenience of their credit cards which causes them to land up in a huge amount of debt. Chief Operating Officer for the National Credit Regulator (NCR), Nomsa Motsaegare, says that the NCR has about 50 000 applicants who have applied for debt counselling. According to the NCR, consumers owe credit providers over R1 trillion.

“The National Credit Regulator registers debt counsellors. These are individuals who assist people who are over indebted,” said Motsaegare.

Motseagare says that thousands of South Africans have applied to be a part of the debt relief programme. To date the NCR has registered approximately 800 debt counsellors who are represented in all Provinces in the country.

“We conduct a lot of workshops with debt counsellors to get them to understand what they need to do to assist people who are over indebted,” she said.