August 2021 IDM Special Edition

WHY CONSUMERS ARE
STILL NOT GETTING
COURT ORDERS
When they wrote the National Credit Act (“the NCA”)
the lawmakers envisioned a debt review system that
would ensure over indebted consumers could obtain
assistance in rearranging their debt obligations (in a
harmonised manner) that would lead to the eventual
satisfaction of all their debt obligations.
It was meant to be simple, and they thought everyone would just
follow the regulations set out by the NCA and consumers would get
their court order in a reasonable time. Instead, what we saw from the
outset, and are still seeing, is the opposite. Thousands of consumers
who have applied for debt review still do not have a court order and
feel that the debt review process has failed them. The harsh reality
is that this is true for more than 50% of consumers who have ever
applied for debt review.
Having identified that there is obviously a problem; we should try
to identify the causes and then try to rectify them as best we can.
Looking at the challenges in the current debt review process, there is
not just one guilty party causing all the problems that can be blamed
for everything. No, across the industry many different role players
have to share at least some of the blame.