Debtfree DIGI Magazine - July 2016

The Payment Distribution categories this year were very similar to those in 2015. The 4 categories
were: Customer Service, Industry Support, Software Integration and the big one Payment
Distribution. As in 2015 only 3 PDA’s were considered namely DC Partner, Hyphen PDA and NPDA
(DCM Group). Since the results were based on a peer review of hundreds of people it is hard to
know what the exact margins were, but the ultimate winner in each of the four categories was
Hyphen PDA, who went home with an armful of certificates and awards. With only 3 firms in the
running it is always going to be a tight race, but it seems full honours belong to Hyphen PDA
over the last 6 months.
Debt Review Awards – The Debt Counsellor Awards
The final 3 awards of the evening were those for Debt Counselling firms. The awards are split into
the size categories. First up was the smaller Boutique Debt Counselling firm’s award. Traditionally
these firms are run by a single debt Counsellor with a smaller staff compliment who knows every
client by name. This year the award went to Cape Town Debt Counsellor Alan Manshon. He is
well known for engaging with credit providers and assisting other Debt Counsellors with advice
about reckless credit and more. The DC Category awards presenters were Ms. Denise Hartley
(of Nedbank) and Athaly Khan (of FNB). The next award was for Large Debt Counselling firms
with either several Debt Counsellors or larger staff numbers and more clients. Over the last
few years Consumer Debt Help (a Cape Town based debt counselling firms which focuses on
lower income consumers) has taken the top honours. This year was no exception, as they were