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Industry Event

Recently, ABSA bank’s distressed consumer department held an online meeting with Debt Counsellors.

The goal of the meeting was to foster greater understanding between Debt Counsellors and ABSA’s debt review department and to allow Debt Counsellors to engage directly with specific ABSA team members about specific cases.

Well Attended

The online meeting was well attended with nearly 200 Debt Counsellors online during the event. ABSA had 9 members of their team available to address issues from across the entire department.

Having a wide range of staff from the various internal teams enabled ABSA to swiftly address specific issues raised by different Debt Counsellors throughout the 4 hour long session.

Key Take Home Points

Jaco and his team jumped right in with little preamble and once all the usual funny technical sound and connection issues were handled the meeting got swiftly underway.

Everything, from CoBs (info about the client’s debts) to making arrangements when clients have a sudden change in circumstances were discussed. From the legal side of the process to the end of the process, when a consumer is given a letter to say their debts are paid up, were all on the table. And at each point in the discussion Debt Counsellors were encouraged to make observations, raise points and help identify possible issues.


Happy Debt Counsellors

Debt Counsellors love being “part of the conversation” and having a large credit provider being so willing to engage was great.

Also of note, was ABSA’s willingness to deal with issues right away (where possible) and to put their cards on the table. This was very refreshing.

Throughout the meeting, specific consumers’ cases were mentioned and the ABSA team undertook to deal with a wide variety of small issues specific to these individual cases. Email addresses were exchanged and action taken immediately.

Small snags are not uncommon in any involved process like debt review. With lots of moving parts comes the risk of lots of potential hiccups. Still, it was clear that almost all who attended were very impressed with the ABSA team’s work and attendees had few complaints overall.

‘all who attended were very impressed with the ABSA team’s work’

Many Debt Counsellors complimented ABSA on their fast turnaround times, easy access to necessary information and said that they were very satisfied with the way ABSA handle queries.

The meeting was a great success and it was nice to be able to engage directly with the ABSA team as they continue in their efforts to service both their clients and the Debt Counsellors who assist them.