Monthly Budget Planner
These are the same categories regulation 24(1)(b) of the National Credit Regulations requires on a Form 16 debt review application. Whether or not you end up applying, filling this in gives you the one number that matters: what is actually left after you live, and whether your debt fits inside it.
1. Income
Use net figures - what actually lands in your account.
| Net salary or wage (after PAYE and UIF) | |
| Other regular income (second job, rental, grant, maintenance received) | |
| Total | R0 |
2. Deductions
Regulation 24(7)(b) takes off statutory deductions and other deductions made as a condition of employment. Only include what you have no choice about. If PAYE and UIF are already excluded from the net salary you entered above, do not enter them again here.
| Pension or provident fund (if compulsory) | |
| Medical aid (if a condition of employment) | |
| Union fees or other compulsory employment deductions | |
| Court orders (maintenance, emoluments attachment) | |
| Total | R0 |
3. Living expenses
Regulation 24(7)(c): these are based on the budget you provide, adjusted by the debt counsellor with reference to NCR guidelines. Be realistic rather than optimistic - a figure you cannot actually live on will collapse the plan later.
| Rent (if you rent) or levies and rates | |
| Groceries and household | |
| Utilities - electricity, water, refuse | |
| Transport - fuel, taxi, bus, train | |
| School fees and childcare | |
| Insurance and funeral policies | |
| Airtime, data, connectivity | |
| Other living expenses | |
| Total | R0 |
4. Debt repayments
Every credit agreement. Sureties are the ones people forget, and regulation 24(1)(b)(iv) expressly requires them to be listed.
| Home loan | |
| Vehicle finance or lease | |
| Personal loans | |
| Credit cards | |
| Overdraft repayments | |
| Furniture, clothing and other retail accounts | |
| Educational loans | |
| Business loans or sureties you have signed | |
| Total | R0 |
Getting this right matters more than it looks
- Understating your living expenses to make the numbers work produces a plan you cannot sustain. Defaulting on a re-arrangement is one of the events that lifts the section 88(3) protection against enforcement.
- Overstating them wastes the assessment. Regulation 24(7)(c) lets the debt counsellor adjust your figure with reference to NCR guidelines, so an inflated number gets brought back down anyway.
- List every debt including sureties. An agreement you leave off does not get notified under Form 17.1 and does not get the benefit of the process.
Related
The regulator
OurPower is not a debt counsellor and is not registered with the National Credit Regulator. This page is general information about South African debt review law, not financial, legal or debt counselling advice. Debt review is not the right answer for everyone. Only an NCR-registered debt counsellor or a court can determine whether you are over-indebted. Legislation verified 2026-08-15. Sources: National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and the National Credit Regulations.