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Coombe and Associates (who  are used by Capitec, African Bank & the big four banks to collect their debt) has been accused of widespread garnishee malpractice.

The allegations include:

  • excessive interest charges of 60% imposed on accounts
  • excessive legal charges
  • dubious interest costs imposed on legal charges
  • inflation of principle debts.
  • It has been said that some consumers are being charged up to nearly eight times their original loan amounts – well in excess of Section 103(5) commonly referred to as induplum

Coombe and Associates have denied the allegations but it seems that the evidence is stacked against them. Media outlets are in possession of numerous copies of Coombe garnishee statements, summaries of payments due as well as affidavits from consumers submitted to the Law Society of the Northern Provinces which describe unethical and abusive practices. These documents have been collected independently by three garnishee auditing firms, members of the public and Debt Masters (a registered debt counselling practice).

These sources, as well as a Western Cape law clinic, all claim that Coombe & Assoc. are involved in various forms of garnishee abuse and malpractice.

Debt Counsellor John Steyn from Debt Masters  says that Coombe & Assoc. are “unscrupulous in its costs and has no consideration for whether a defaulter will be able to afford them or have sufficient money left after the garnishees go-off in order to survive,” . John also believes that Coombe & Assoc. is ignoring the in duplum requirements of law through its excessive charges.

Summit Garnishee Solutions claims to have numerous affidavits which claim that Coombe & Assoc. has been involved with getting fraudulent garnishees and that its agents have mislead consumers so that they sign documents that consent to judgments or acknowledge of debt.

Another issue raised by interested parties is jurisdiction. The courts out of which the emolument attachment orders (EAO) – what most people call garnishee orders- are issued is seldom a court that has jurisdiction in terms the Magistrate Court Act. Employers have been reported as asking  “We are based in Cape Town, why on earth do we get a court order from KemptonPark,”.

Coombe & Assoc. often use the KemptonPark and Krugersdorp Magistrates Courts for garnishees. These courts are currently being investigated and are suspected of issuing a very high number of garnishee orders. The University of Pretoria’s Law Clinic, which has conducted research into garnishee abuse, has identified these two courts as possible centres for garnishee malpractice and jurisdiction abuse. Other organisations are now also investigating these courts.

A Western Cape Law Clinic  says that since these garnishee orders are granted on the other side of the country their” clients cannot afford to travel for instance to Kimberley (from Cape Town… Neither can they afford the services of an attorney.”

Capitec Bank have said that they have stopped using Coombe & Assoc. to collect new debts for them since October 2012. African Bank say they are now conducting an investigation into the allegations .

Coombe & Assoc. have arranged that an external firm do an audit on them and are confident that they will come up smelling of roses. If however it turns out that there has been any wrong doing it seems that Coombe & Assoc. will try to shift the blame and say they were simply following the instructions of their clients. This could well be true.