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Industry News

The Credit Bureau Association (CBA) has announced further changes to its Debt Counselling Portal following discussions with DCASA.

The changes aim to make the process safer, reduce confusion and help debt counsellors who are trying to assist consumers correctly. Two important improvements have been introduced during October 2026.

From October 2026, the CBA introduced an updated rejection code (Code 03). This means that amendment requests will be rejected if the consumer’s F1 or F2 status has not been correctly updated on the NCR’s Debt Help System (DHS). This is designed to prevent potentially dishonest Debt Counsellors or unauthorised staff from changing or removing information at credit bureaus when they are not the officially recorded Debt Counsellor handling that consumer’s debt review.

A second improvement: Credit bureaus are developing an additional information column that will explain exactly why an amendment request has been rejected. This will help Debt Counsellors quickly identify missing documents or other problems with their submissions. Hopefully, this will reduce the number of emails and queries sent to credit bureaus asking for explanations.

Together with changes introduced during September, these improvements should help make the process smoother and more reliable. The CBA hopes the adjustments to the system will better protect consumers and honest Debt Counsellors while making it harder for those who try to cut corners or submit incorrect information.