Debt Review Duration: How Long Will It Take?
How Long Does Debt Review Take?
Many South Africans who think of starting the debt review process have the same question:
“How long will it take?”
It’s totally natural to want a get clear answer, but the truth is that the timeline can vary depending on your situation. Understanding the factors that affect the duration can help you make a decision about whether to start the process or not.
Here are a few things that you need to know about how long it takes.
Unique Plans For Unique People
Every debt review plan is as unique as the person it’s designed for. There is no one size fits all.
One of the main goals of debt review is to ensure that your monthly payments are realistic and affordable. No more making promises you can’t keep.
Instead of struggling to pay more than you can actually handle, your unique debt review repayment plan is tailored to fit your budget so that you can pay off your debt step by step. This means that the time it takes depends on your individual financial situation and the size of your debt.
If you can only pay very little each month or your debts are very big, it can take a long time to finish your debt review. If you can pay a lot monthly and your debts are only small then it will go by quickly. Either way, the best is that the plan ensures that you can first cover your monthly necessities each month.
The Industry Average
The surprising news is that when you enter debt review your credit providers are on your side.
Over the years, they’ve introduced massive concessions to help debt review consumers clear their debts faster. These include cutting out fees and lowering interest rates, which makes a massive difference. Instead of just paying interest and getting nowhere, they are willing to give people in debt review a chance to get out of debt faster.
Thanks to these generous adjustments, many debt review plans on average run for about 60 months (five years). This can be considered the “industry average” but this is not a fixed rule—some people take less time, while others might need longer.
The bottom line is that you will stay in debt review until all your debts are fully paid off (except for home loans – you don’t have to finish paying those off, you can just revert back to normal bond repayments after the debt review ends).
The goal is to settle all your smaller debts, such as credit cards, vehicle finance, personal loans, or store accounts. Once that’s done, you’ll receive an official clearance certificate that shows you’ve completed the process and are debt free.
That will be the end of your debt review.
Speeding Up Your Debt Review
At first, adjusting from using credit all the time to only spending what you can afford takes time.
But soon you will be in the swing of things and thinking about how you can finish up your debt review sooner than planned.
If you’re eager to finish sooner, there’s a pretty simple way to speed things up. By making extra payments when you have additional funds, such as a bonus or an increase from work or maybe money from selling an asset, you can seriously reduce the time it takes to settle your debt.
Any extra payments are applied directly to your outstanding balances, helping you get that clearance certificate faster.
Stay Committed For Ultimate Success
So, how long will debt review take?
That depends on your unique situation. Debt review doesn’t have a one size fits all timeline. The process depends on how much you owe, how much you can afford to pay each month, and whether you can make extra payments along the way.
Though many plans last 60 months, the main focus will be ensuring you have enough money to look after your needs each month. The plan needs to be realistic and sustainable so that you have what you need each month as you pay off your debts.
‘ask a professional NCR registered Debt Counsellor to do some math’
The most important thing you can do is to stick to your plan however long it takes and make your payments regularly. By doing so, you’ll successfully complete the debt review process.
So, if you are thinking of starting debt review, ask a professional NCR registered Debt Counsellor to do some math and give you an educated guess about how long it might take you to pay off your debts through debt review.
