What Do Debt Counsellors Earn?
You may wonder what a professional, NCR registered Debt Counsellor earns each month as they assist consumers on the road to financial recovery.
With the National Credit Regulator (NCR) looking at the fees that are charged for debt review Debtfree Magazine wondered about the other side of the fee’s issue, not at what consumers are paying but what Debt Counsellors are earning.
According to Stats SA, in South Africa the average salary is currently R26 000/month (before tax). That’s roughly R325/hour.
Now remember that an average takes into account the very highest earning individuals in SA as well (and they earn…a lot) but interestingly excludes agricultural workers according to the Stats SA report. Still, it does give some idea of whether Debt Counsellors earn above or below the middle ground in SA.
Our Survey
In our survey we asked Debt Counsellors about:
(1) the newest junior Debt Counsellors,
(2) ones who have been working for some time and then
(3) the original owner or most senior Debt Counsellor at their practice.
Smaller Debt Counsellor practices tend to pay all their bills first (incl. for a support staff member or two) and then take what is left over each month. Those monthly bills would include rent, electricity, computers, IT support, advertising, maintenance, office supplies etc.
Many times, Debt Counsellors working in a group will earn some additional commission if the client sticks with the process for a longer time and this is then factored into the replies we got from those working in a larger practice.
70% of respondents worked alone while 30% work with other Debt Counsellors as part of a bigger team or practice.
Some Debt Counsellors noted that they only take on a very small number of clients a month (eg 3) even though they have been in practice for many years. They then use funds coming in from these new clients to cover the costs of running their monthly expenses in their practice. This meant that they themselves take hardly any funds home themselves. Among these Debt Counsellors around 10% take home less than R5000 a month.
Junior Debt Counsellors
Fresh off doing the NCR National Credit Act course these are brand new Debt Counsellors who have just registered with the Regulator and begun working in the industry.
They may practice on their own or have been working at a larger practice in a support capacity and now qualified as Debt Counsellors themselves.
R5000 | 30% |
Above R5000 – R10 000 | 50% |
Above R10 000 – R15 000 | 10% |
More | 5% |
No Junior DCs in our practice | 5% |
The majority of Debt Counsellors (80%) in this category earn under or close to R10 000 a month. This translates to less than R63/hour.
Midlevel Debt Counsellors
These Debt Counsellors now have some experience in the field and have been in practice for a few years.
R5000 | 15% |
Above R5000 – R10 000 | 25% |
Above R10 000 – R15 000 | 25% |
Above R15 000 – R20 000 | 25% |
More | 5% |
No Midlevel DCs in our practice | 5% |
The majority of Debt Counsellors in this category (50%) earn between R10 000 and R20 000 a month with only a tiny handful earning more.
Senior Debt Counsellors
Only 15% of the most senior Debt Counsellors in the entire industry earn above the National Average wage.
R5000 | 10% |
Above R5000 – R10 000 | 25% |
Above R10 000 – R15 000 | 20% |
Above R15 000 – R20 000 | 10% |
Above R20 000 – R25 000 | 20% |
Above R25 000 – R30 000 | 5% |
More | 10% |
So, statistically speaking* perhaps only 15% of the most senior Debt Counsellors in the entire industry earn above the National Average wage while around 85% earn below it.
Around half of senior Debt Counsellors earn half or less of the National Average wage. This means they earn less than R78 an hour.
As mentioned earlier, we even see some very senior Debt Counsellors only taking home R5000 a month despite being in the industry for many years. This means they must have other forms of employment helping them cover their own costs. Tragically their years of experience are spent helping only a handful of consumers.
Let The NCR Know
The NCR will be discussing debt counselling fees in the months ahead but there has as yet been no indication that any detailed research has been done at CIF level in regard to the amount of time (hours) it takes to assist a consumer through debt review nor what Debt Counsellors actually earn across the country.
*based on this survey
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