Debtfree Magazine Issue 3 of 2021

NCR FEE GUIDELINE TO BE REVIEWD
DCASA & THE NCR
FEE GUIDELINE
When the industry first started in 2007, the Debt
Counsellors Association of South Africa (DCASA)
fee guideline was perhaps the widest accepted fee
structure.
This changed however when, after a few years, the Competition
Commission said it was unfair for Debt Counsellors who did not
belong to the association, to have to stick to association specific fees.
This led to the NCR stepping in and issuing a very similar guideline
for Debt Counsellors (with some increases in the fee amounts). They
also asked Debt Counsellors to voluntarily accept these fees, as part
of their conditions of registration, and as part of the industry code of
conduct.
The NCR made their view on the voluntary nature of their guideline
clear when they said: ‘It is therefore the considered view of the NCR,
as the custodian of the credit industry, that all debt counsellors are
required to comply with the Fee Guidelines for Debt Counsellors,
which were issued by the NCR in 2011 so as to ensure that the
industry-agreed payment process is implemented uniformly
throughout the debt counselling industry.’