How to get out of debt review in South Africa?

The only way you can exit debt review in South Africa is if you meet one of the following criteria:

• You've paid up all your debt according to your debt review (debt counselling) repayment plan. The only debt that can be outstanding is your home loan. 
  
  OR
• You've paid up all your debt, and the debt you haven't paid up has been prescribed (legally written off).
  
  For debt to have been prescribed, strict criteria would have to be met.
  

Not sure if you have prescribed debt? This is some of the criteria you have to meet for prescribed debt:

• Your debt must be older than the prescription period. A prescription period in South Africa is usually 3 years. 
• You have not acknowledged to the relevant creditors that you are liable for this debt. 
• You have not made any payments towards this debt during the prescription period. 
• The creditor has not made any contact with you throughout the prescription period, indicating that they have not issued a summons or requested payment.

Learn more about how you can remove prescribed debt from your credit report in this blog post. 

The steps to clear your name from debt review

To be removed from debt review, you need a debt review clearance certificate. If you've paid up all your debt, Meerkat (a registered financial services provider & registered debt counsellor) can issue you with a clearance certificate.

Here's how you can clear your name from debt review at Meerkat in 6 steps, completely online:

1. Start your simple online application.
2. Upload your paid-up letters from your creditors. 
   1. If you don't have these, we can still assist you.
3. Pay your R1150 fee to cancel debt review. 
   1. If you don't have your paid-up letters, you will be charged more to obtain these.
4. We will retrieve the most recent version of your credit report. 
5. We will contact your credit providers and the credit bureaus to update your credit report to remove the debt review status. 
6. You will be issued with your debt review clearance certificate and have now been successfully removed from the process!

Some clarity regarding debt review (debt counselling) removal

• You can't remove yourself from debt review but a registered Debt Counsellor can. 
• You can only be removed from debt review if you've paid up your debt. 
• Since 2022, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) has stated that a consumer can no longer voluntarily leave the process, even before they have been declared over-indebted or a debt review court order has been put in place. This means that as soon as you have applied for debt review, you have to complete the process. 
• There is no such thing as free debt review removal. There will always be fees involved. You should be very aware of companies or individuals claiming they can do this for you for free. 
• Be cautious of attorneys who demand high fees, promising to eliminate you from the debt review process. Only a certified Debt Counsellor has the authority to lift the National Credit Regulator (NCR) debt review flag.

Interested in learning more about lawyers and debt review removal? Read this blog post. 

Debt review removal reviews 

Look at our reviews on HelloPeter. 

Why Meerkat?

MyMeerkat FSP is an authorised financial services provider (FSP 50979).

Registered Debt Counsellor NCRDC 2613.

We have successfully removed the debt review flag for thousands of South Africans.

We have issued over 600 clearance certificates in the last 10 months!

Want to know more about the debt counselling (debt review) process? Read this blog post.