The Law does not expect a man to be prepared to

defend every act of his life which may be suddenly

and without notice alleged against him

The Lawyer’s Creed:

Mind your manners

Tell the truth

Know the Law

Law School taught me one thing:

How to take two situations that

are exactly the same and show

how they are different

He is no Lawyer who cannot take two sides

If you are having difficulties obtaining a loan or credit, it might mean that you are blacklisted at a credit bureau.

Blacklisting is normally classified under the following:

• Civil Judgements
• Defaults
• Administration Orders

Before we can determine what type of blacklisting you have, we’ll require a comprehensive copy of your credit report.  If you do not already have such a report in your possession, we can apply for your report from any or all of the major credit bureaus in South Africa.

There are various credit bureaus in South Africa, but the bureaus listed below are mainly used by the Credit Providers when assessing your credit worthiness:

• TransUnion ITC
• Experian
• Compuscan
• XDS

If you have a Judgement listed on your profile, it means that a creditor has obtained the Judgement under a Case Number in terms of a Court Order.  If you qualify for a rescission, we can approach the Court who granted the Judgement on your behalf and formally apply for the Judgement to be rescinded.  Thereafter, we can furnish the Credit Bureaus with the necessary Court Order and supporting documents and instruct them to ‘delete’ the Judgement from your profile.

Notwithstanding the above, as from 2014, you are also entitled to approach the Credit Bureaus personally and provide them with a settlement letter issued by the relevant creditor.   

The Credit Bureaus will be obligated – if all the relevant requirements have been met – to delete the Civil judgement from your profile.

As far as ‘Default Listings’ are concerned, the status of the listing can be amended from ‘bad debt written off’ to ‘account paid in full’ once the debt has been settled. It’s important to note, though, that the adverse listing can remain in a consumer’s ‘payment history’ for a period determined mainly by the reason for the adverse listing and the date of such listing.

If an Administration Order has been registered against your profile, it means that your estate is currently, or has been in the past, under ‘Section 74 Administration’.

In order for us to clear this type of blacklisting from your profile, we’ll require the Administration Rescission Order (Section 74Q) and Certificate (Section 74U) which should be obtained and provided to you by your Administrators.  We can approach the credit bureaus on your behalf if you encounter difficulties with success in terms of the Credit Information Amnesty.

If a consumer is currently under Debt Review, the best course of action will be to settle the debts listed under Debt Review and to obtain a ‘Clearance Certificate’ from the Debt Councilor.  If the debts have not been settled and the consumer wishes to be released from Debt Review, an Application can be made to Court to rescind the Debt Review order, after which the consumer will be obligated to make payments directly to their respective creditors.

Clients should be aware that their payment behaviour remains on their credit records.  These behavioural styles are analysed by credit providers when doing credit assessments.

We are available to assist our clients with advice on how to clear or improve their credit records.  Should they also require our assistance with removing any adverse listings (meeting the removal requirements), a quote will be provided for their approval before the process commences.