CIF are talking about the old Task Team matters – comment on them
Comment on old NCR Task Team report
Did you get a chance to comment on the old NCR Task Team findings back in 2010?
No? Well, now you can. Several years after the fact the NCR is considering these matters again in light of how the industry has changed. They have recently tabled these old findings at the brand new Credit Industry Forum. Severla members feel that these findings still have some benefit for the industry today.
NCR Task Team
When debt review was in it’s infancy it was quickly seen that every Debt Counsellor and every credit provider had a different view on how things should be done. This is because the National Credit Act is not very specific about how proposals should be made and does not mention things like cancelling debit orders on accounts or how long debt should be repaid over (it only says eventual satisfaction of debt). The NCR asked a few people to get together and work out some industry norms they could promote and hopefully get everyone to adopt. These would not be rules but guidelines. Credit providers (particularly BASA) found these guidelines very helpful in programming their computers to do most of the heavy lifting and enable them to employ people at a call centre to handle debt review matters which were pouring in in large numbers. The Report thus for them created some stability in a volatile space. Debt Counsellors were not as impressed but did see improvement in turn around times etc.
Why should we care?
That this is important was recently demonstrated in a matter where MFC had a High Court refer a matter back to the magistrates court , in part, because the proposal made went beyond the recommendations of the old Task Team report that the High Court saw as industry agreements and norms.
You can download copies of these documents here:
2010 NCR Task Team
NCR TT Annexure A Proposed Codes of Conduct Institutional Arrangements Final – 23 June
NCR TT Annexure B Proposed Process Enhancements Code provisions Final – 23 June 2010
NCR TT Annexure C Porposed Debt Review Assessment Guidelines Final- 23 June 2010
NCR TT Annexure D Final – 23 June 2010
NCR TT Main Report Final – 31 May 2010
NCRTT ANNEXURE E Proposed Debt Restructuring Rules May 2010
The CIF will be meeting shortly and these matters will be discussed.
It is probably hoped that these old agreements will be simply be ratified. However without consulting the broader Debt Counsellor community it is likely that this will meet with huge resistance and perhaps even legal interdicts etc. Let’s hope the CIF does not fall into the same trap that DRAC did by only voicing the decisions of a small representation of the Debt Counsellor community. This will probably result in more confusion rather than consolidation of the process. At present CIF has 3 times the amount of representation for Debt Counsellors than the former DRAC did. However one source claims that 85% of active Debt Counsellors are not represented on the CIF at the moment. It is unclear if there are any consumer bodies on the forum.
Then send your comments back to the NCR or your Debt Counsellor Association ASAP.