How to Apply for Debt Review in South Africa: Step by Step

Step 1: check the debt counsellor is actually registered

Do this before anything else, and before you pay anyone a cent. Debt counsellors must be registered with the National Credit Regulator. The NCR publishes a public register of registered debt counsellors, and you can call the NCR on 0860 627 627 to confirm.

A registration number on a website is a claim, not proof. Check it against the register. This is a sector that attracts people who charge upfront fees and then do nothing, and the single cheapest way to avoid them is a two-minute check.

Step 2: gather what Form 16 will ask for

Form 16 is the prescribed application form. Regulation 24(1) sets out what it captures, so you can prepare it all in advance and save yourself weeks:

• Personal details: name, ID number (or passport number and date of birth), postal and physical address, contact details.
• All income, including employment income and every other source.
• Monthly deductions: tax, UIF, pension, medical aid, insurance, court orders, and anything else.
• Every debt, with the monthly commitment, total balance outstanding, original amount, and the amount in arrears. That includes home loans, vehicle finance and leases, personal loans, credit cards, overdrafts, store and clothing accounts, educational loans, business loans and any sureties you have signed.
• Living expenses: groceries, utilities, school fees, transport and the rest.
• A declaration and undertaking committing to the debt restructuring, and consent for a credit bureau check.

Our budget planner walks the same line items so you arrive with the numbers already assembled: /tools/debt-review/budget-planner

Sureties are the one people forget. If you signed surety for a business loan or a family member, it belongs on the form.

Step 3: understand the fee addendum before you sign it

The NCR fee guideline requires that the applicable fees and the services they cover be set out in an addendum to Form 16, explained to you, and signed by you. If nobody has walked you through a fee addendum, do not sign the application. Ask for it.

The application fee itself is limited to the amount prescribed in Schedule 2 of the Act - R50. Section 86(3)(b) also prohibits a debt counsellor from requiring or accepting any fee from a credit provider in respect of your application. Their duty runs to you, not to your creditors.

The full fee schedule, including which figures are legally fixed and which are only guidelines, is in our debt review cost guide: /tools/debt-review/debt-review-cost

Step 4: know the deadlines your counsellor must meet

These are statutory, and knowing them is how you tell a working file from a stalled one:

1. Within 5 business days of receiving your application, the debt counsellor must deliver Form 17.1 to every credit provider you listed and every registered credit bureau. That is regulation 24(2).
2. Within 30 business days of receiving your application, the debt counsellor must make the section 86(6) determination. That is regulation 24(6).
3. Within 5 business days after the assessment is complete, Form 17.2 goes to all affected credit providers and all registered credit bureaux. That is regulation 24(10).
4. If proposals are not submitted to your credit providers, or the matter is not referred to the Tribunal or a Magistrate's Court, within 60 business days of your application date, the NCR fee guideline says the debt counsellor must refund 100% of the fees you paid, excluding the application fee.

That last one is the most useful sentence in this guide. Diarise 60 business days from your application date. If nothing has been filed by then, you have a refund claim and a reason to call the NCR.

Step 5: what happens on the other side

The debt counsellor reaches one of three findings under section 86(7). You are not over-indebted, and the application must be rejected. You are not over-indebted but are struggling, and a voluntary re-arrangement may be recommended. Or you are over-indebted, and a proposal goes to the Magistrate's Court.

Our process guide walks each path and what it means for you: /tools/debt-review/debt-review-process-explained

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