Reading Time: 2 minutes

BDCF meet with African Bank

BDCF Logo

The Black Debt Counsellors Forum (BDCF) who represent a group of Debt Counsellors say that there is serious concern in the credit industry about the astronomical rise of unsecured lending in South Africa and quote a 389% statistical rise in this portion of the credit industry within the last five years.

 
In their pursuit to protect consumers the Black Debt Counsellor’s Forum has been initiating talks with major players in the unsecured lending industry. The BDCF say they are very concerned about this distressed borrowing and the resultant vulnerability to consumers and are determined to be proactive in addressing the problem.

 
BDCF has recently initiated a series of talks with African bank one of the major players in the field of unsecured lending. The key areas discussed were high interest rates, reckless credit and consumer education. ‘’We want to point out that this was not a name and shame exercise but a proactive approach in which for the first time African Bank was able to sit down with a Debt Counsellor’s Forum and carve a way forward to the interest of the consumer” says Randall Adams of the BDCF.

 
The BDCF maintains that debt counsellors’ role in curbing the spiralling of debts through debt counselling are not fully appreciated in the industry. “We want to alter the misperceptions and be catalyst for positive change in consumer protection“.

BDCF report that they will soon be engaging with Capitec Bank and Bayport on the same matters.