Amendment Process to Get Underway in 2017
National Credit Act Amendments To Go Ahead in 2017
Recently, a Trade and Industry sub-committee met with various role players in the credit industry, including the banks, unions, regulators and Debt Counsellors. Various ideas and suggestions regarding dealing with the tragically over-indebted nature of the South African consumer were thrown around. One of the hot topics was ‘debt forgiveness programmes. Also a hot topic was possible ways to reduce the costs of the debt review process.
The matter has now been escalated to a full Trade and Industry committee and they have adopted a report from the subcommittee on the topic. This means that the plan to make changes to the National Credit Act (NCA) will go ahead in the future.
It seems that, though there are many issues that might be addressed by amendments, the focus of these possible future changes will not be on debt forgiveness but rather measures to combat over-indebtedness.
Part of that will be a clearer definition of NCA Section 103(5) which credit providers have ducked and dived for years, as well as, possible debt review measures for low-income earners. Also on the table is the criminalisation of breaking the NCA. This will allow for more meaningful enforcement of breaches of the Act.
It is hoped that these changes will make the requirements of the NCA clearer and more effective. The process will be a long one and will take a number of months as the public and industry will also be called on for comment on any possible draft changes.