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13th Annual Debt Review Awards

The 13th Annual Debt Review Awards were held at the D’Aria Wine farm in Durbanville Hills, in Cape Town on Friday 16th October.

Around 250 guests from across the industry attended the in person gala, while thousands of others joined online from across the country.

Gala guests were a mix of credit providers, Debt Counsellors, insurance providers, attorneys, credit bureaus, payment distribution agents, software developers and attendees from the NCR and NCT. Many were in line to possibly take home Awards. While some did indeed go home with prizes and Awards, all left with good memories and goodie bags.

Guests got to enjoy the warm sunny day and mingle outside the venue while enjoying refreshing welcome drinks and iced coffees from iPDA, collecting gift bags from Consumer Friend and entering competitions with Datanamix, King Price Life and DebtPal (from Digital Orchestrators). Many a selfie was taken but professional photographers were also on hand to capture all the action.

Guests with a sweet tooth got to scoop up some of the 100 000 jelly beans from VDH Attorneys, who are celebrating 100 000 debt review applications.

Later in the day guests got to enjoy some yummy sweet treats thanks to Capital Data (Nutun). The chocolate brownies nearly caused a small riot.

Guests also got to spend time with other sponsors such as Hyphen PDA, Dialog (powered by Nexis), FNB, DC Partner PDA, VHT Attorneys, iDOCS (Intelento), Nedbank, Steyn Coetzee Attorneys, Bitech (Simplicity) and A de Bruyn Attorneys.

Event sponsors, contributors and supporters like the NCT, NDCA, BASA, CASA, DCASA, DTIC and the NCR all helped make the event a great success.

Speakers

The industry got to enjoy a detailed speech from the newly appointed NCR CEO, Mr Otsile Maseng, who spoke about the NCR’s hopes and plans for the industry.

Mr Maseng was followed by NCT Chairperson Mr Trevor Bailey. The NCT play a crucial role in the industry dealing with a variety of matters including the all important consent orders. Mr Bailey reminded guests that while embracing technology we need to keep sight of the consumer. Other speakers on the day were Leandri de Lange of CASA and Tiaan Huttingh on behalf of PDASA.

All spoke positively of the effect that debt review can have on consumers and the economy. Billions of rands are being moved from hundreds of thousands of regularly paying consumers back to credit providers via debt review. Consumers get the relief of reasonable and manageable repayment plans and credit providers get reliable and regular repayments.

This is something to be celebrated.

Feel Good Moments

Consumer Friend lifted everyone’s spirits when they announced that they were helping two older consumers who had experienced a number of hardships write off their remaining debts.

The two consumers moved everyone by relating their stories and shared their joy at finally being debt free with help from Consumer Friend.

During the event, it was also announced that all funds raised by the sale of FoodSocks at the venue would be donated to the FoodBank to help provide support to those in debt review experiencing sudden hardships. Guests and FoodSocks donated almost R9000 on the day. Amazing.

On the previous day at the DC & CP Meet Up both DC Partner PDA and iDOCS (by Intelento) had donated R2000 each towards the FoodBank. Meaning that a cumulative R14 000 was added to the FoodBank to stock up on needed supplies to help. Thank you all who helped raise these funds. They will be put to good use.

Associated Awards

The Debt Review Awards collaborate with various industry parties in the Associated Awards categories.

These recognise individuals (not brands) who are making huge strides in raising the reputation and efficiencies in the industry.

Slipstream Technology Adoption Award

After identifying the Top 5 in the technology adoption category the highest rated (with a score based on technology use by both the Debt Counselling practice and its clients) for 2026 was identified.

DC Experts

DCCP Rising Star Awards

DC Credit Protect (DCCP), who supply specialist insurance to those in debt review helped identify two individuals who are set for great things in the Rising Star Awards Category. The two winners were Celeste Kelly and Justin Govender. Keep your eyes on them in the month ahead. Congratulations to the winners.

Nousheen Pore Award

This year’s Nousheen Pore Award in the legal category went to Kendra Neilson, who personally had the opportunity to work with and learn from Nousheen in the past. The award comes with a generous R10 000 in funds to donate to the charity of her choice. Kendra decided to donate to Capetownians Against Animal Abuse. For more info about them visit caaa.org.za

ONE | Significant Contribution to Debt Review Awards

ONE who provide specialised insurance products for those in debt review (such as Credit Life Insurance replacement) were on hand to announce the 2 winners in the Significant Contribution to Debt Review Categories. The Process Award went to Mr Tiaan Hattingh of iPDA and the Industry Award went to Mr Saishen Krishnan “SK” of Hyphen PDA

Media & Legal Awards

Mr Jimmy Moyaha (for his SAFM piece on the NDCA proposal to revamp the debt counselling framework) was recognised among various journalists who cover the topic of debt review in the media.

Two attorney practices (one who represents credit providers and one who represents Debt Counsellors and their clients) were recognised this year. The top ratings went to Oosthuizen Du Toit Berg & Boon (ODBB) and De Lange Attorneys (MiLaw). Congratulations.

Prizes

Peer Review Results

The climax of the event was the announcing of the results of the annual industry peer reviews. 

After a short but boring speech and a big thank you to the 3 officially NCR registered PDAs (DC Partner PDA, Hyphen PDA and iPDA), various winners in different categories were announced.

Among the Top Rated Credit Providers were:

Colecta (Unifi), Absa and Old Mutual Finance. Both Consumer Friend and Standard Bank each took home two Awards this year. Congratulations

Among the Top Rated Debt Counsellors were:

Tielman Flischman, Gaynor Els, Gauteng Debt Counsellors, Payplan Solutions, Debt Counselling Group SA (DCGsa), DC Experts and DebtBusters. Congratulations

For all the details about who were in the Top 5 or highest rated this year please head over to www.debtreviewawards.co.za

Fun & Photos

The Big Win of the Day

Debt review truly is amazing and the people who are making it work, either as individuals or part of teams across the industry, deserve to be recognised.

Well done for all your hard work.

The Debt Review Awards once again helped shine a positive light on the industry and the debt review process. Thousands tuned in and were part of the action with some companies or practices even handing out their own staff awards on the day.

Thank you to the sponsors who helped cover the costs associated with the annual Awards process and to all those who volunteered or offered support throughout the year.