I have been following a story about debt counselling gone wrong for quite awhile now. It has been truly frustrating.
I haven't posted anything on The Forum SA so far because every time my sense of justice is inflamed to breaking point, it seemed the problem had been resolved. However, it just keeps coming back – getting worse and worse every time.
Ordinarily I wouldn't name names, but this has gone on for so long and is such a disgrace that I believe the delinquents deserve to be named.
It is quite a long tale of woe, so I will break it down into episodes that I will post over the next few of days. This should be quite a ride!
The story starts in 2009. Mrs X's husband has been struggling to find work for over six months now, and she realises that financially they are in over the head. Mrs X is making decent money, but it isn't enough to get by with the existing financial commitments without a second salary from her husband.
So quite sensibly, and in accordance with the National Credit Act, she contacts a debt counsellor to go under debt review.
In November 2009 she contacted ***** of *****, placing her financial future in his hands.
All seemed to be well. Various notices floated back and forth and in December 2009 she started paying the debt counsellor the agreed amount for distribution to the various creditors. Of course the debt counsellor gets paid first, so the creditors only started receiving money in March 2010 by the looks of things. But everything seemed to be sorted.
That is, until a call from Standard Bank in November 2010. Suddenly it became clear that all was not going to plan. But that's a story for the next episode.
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