Ubank Ltd Chooses Consumer Friend for Outsourced Debt Review Services
KWAZULU-NATAL, MAY 2021 - We take great pleasure in advising that UBANK has appointed CONSUMER FRIEND as its outsourced service provider for accounts entering the Debt Review process.
"We are delighted to welcome another Bank into the Consumer Friend stable. Our experienced team uses efficient processes and cutting-edge technologies to provide a superior Debt Review service via the user-friendly DReX operational platform," said Laszlo Toth, Upstream Group CEO.
Consumer Friend Recognised by RCS
On the 5th of March RCS held their Annual EDC Awards Celebration for 2020. This year, the event was held in a virtual fashion and highlighted top outsourced debt collection organisations that have made a considerable impact in recovering funds on behalf of RCS.
Consumer Friend was once again announced as the winner of the prestigious EDC of the year (specialised) award, which was accepted by Director, Scott van Staden. Consumer Friend provides RCS with specialised business support services for debt rehabilitation and debt review. A key focus of the business is ensuring cash flow optimization, through unique collections and debtor management strategies.
"We appreciate the recognition from RCS and are pleased to have had the opportunity to provide stellar service to RCS for over 13 years," said van Staden.
NCR Circular on Standardised Court Orders
Towards the end of 2020, after deliberations with various related stakeholders, the NCR issued a circular developed by the CIF with proposed operational solutions to standardize debt review court orders. It further addresses the inability of debt counsellors to comply with the 2012 Regulations due to delays by the courts to make the granted court orders available within 5 working days.
The following must be included in a debt review court order:
- General inclusions:
- The jurisdiction
- Case Number
- Name, surname and NCRDC number of the debt counsellor
- Name, surname and ID number of the consumer/s
- Name and NCRCP number of the credit providers
- Credit agreement details (type and account number)
- Clauses in the Order should align with the prayers in the notice of motion
- A clause confirming the consumer/s to be over-indebted
- When the Order refers to annexures, all annexures to be clearly marked and attached to the order.
- Payment related inclusions in the court order:
- A copy of the debt re-arrangement proposal
- Estimated starting date of payment
- A clause confirming that the distribution is subject to the principle of cascading repayments.
- The final debt re-arrangement proposal acceptance letters of the credit providers.
The circular goes further to address general exclusions from court orders. The Circular refers to 2 clauses that should be excluded and not be referred to in the court order. They are:
- A clause referring to a PDA because a PDA is not a party to the court order
- A clause referring to the appointment of the debt counselor because a debt counsellor is subject to change. This is simply to avoid variation applications when a consumer is transferred or a debt counsellor is deregistered, dies or their registration has since lapsed
The final part of the circular remedies the inability of debt counsellor to comply with the 2012 Regulations due to courts not providing the court order within 5 working days.
The following working days have been extended:
- Regulation 2(3) and Regulation 3(3)
- The debt counsellor must collect a copy of the court order from the clerk of the court and deliver it within 15 working days from the date of issue to the affected consumer and each credit provider.
Should you require a copy of the Regulations, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
Industry Ready to Commence After Festive Season
Whilst most of the bigger debt counsellors remained open with skeleton staff during the festive season, all debt counsellors are due to return to work between the 1st and 2nd week of January 2021.
The courts are due to open the 2nd week of January 2021.
UPDATE: 08 January 2021
Towards the end of January 2021, the NCR issued a circular wherein they authorised the transfer of several consumers from debt counsellors who have been deregistered or whose registration has lapsed.
They provided the details of the debt counsellors to whom the consumer will be transferred. Whilst the circular stated that we will be contacted by the new debt counsellors to facilitate the transfer, we have proceeded to get in touch with the new debt counsellors to obtain a list of the affected consumers.
Once we have these details, we will proceed with the transfer on our system.
Consumer Friend appointed to Administer EDCON (RCS Book) Debt Review Portfolio
Consumer Friend, the largest subsidiary of the Upstream Group, provides comprehensive outsourced services for accounts receivables that have become part of the Debt Review process.
Consumer Friend has recently been appointed to take over the Debt Review administration process for a significant portion of the RCS-Edcon portfolio.
ABSA recently sold its Edcon store card portfolio to the RCS Group. This includes the Edgars' and Jet Stores consumer credit portfolio. RCS has been a client of Consumer Friend since 2008 and as such this newly acquired RCS portfolio becomes an extension of the existing and long-standing RCS and Consumer Friend business relationship. "We are fully satisfied with the working relationship that we have with Consumer Friend," said Unati Manyela, Recoveries Manager at RCS.
Through a combination of skilled people, efficient processes and leading-edge technology, Consumer Friend performs at the forefront of the Debt Review industry consistently providing superior, relevant and professional solutions.
Lendcor (Pty) Ltd chooses Consumer Friend for Outsourced Debt Review Solutions
KWAZULU-NATAL, 18 June, 2020 - Lendcor, an established leader in the prudent financing of home improvements, operating mostly in rural areas, has mandated Consumer Friend, the leader in outsourced Debt Review solutions, to manage their Debt Review portfolio.
Consumer Friend will provide Lendcor with Debt Review administration in the form of workflow management and the related customer services. The Consumer Friend offering to Lendcor includes Credit control and the services of receipting, balance management and collections.
All Industry participants in this process will have access to the DReX™ platform, which provides an intelligent and omni-channel integrated portal for managing Debt Review workflow, credit control and related compliance.
"We are committed to assisting Lendcor with the Debt Review process, and necessary compliance in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and the National Credit Act (NCA), via our unique DReX system. We are also confident that we will be providing world-class service to their customers and the debt counsellors involved in the process," said Scott Van Staden, a Director of Consumer Friend.