MONEY CLINIC | I want to buy a house and car but I dropped out of debt review. What now?

A Fin24 reader wants to buy a house and car but has no access to credit after withdrawing from debt review. He writes:

I applied for debt review to assist me with my debts. I finally withdrew to make the payments on my own. I was allowed to withdraw without being told about the consequences of my decision. I am now being assisted by another company, which did a credit check and discovered that some of my creditors had still not been paid. I need to buy a house and a car, but I can't. What should I do?

Kabelo Teme, Communications Liaison at the Office of the Credit Ombud, responds: 

We advise the consumer to contact the National Credit Regulator (NCR) to check whether they are still on the NCR Debt Help System. It is important to know that when a consumer decides to register for debt counselling, they will not be granted any further credit until they have paid up all their debt through the debt counselling process. For that reason, it is advisable for a consumer who is under debt counselling to remain so until they have paid up their debt and received a clearance certificate.

Should they encounter any issues while under debt counselling, they should contact the NCR and lodge their dispute with them, even if the complaint is against the debt counsellor, rather than withdraw from the process. 

The creditors who have not been paid should be contacted, and arrangements need to be made to pay off the debt. The NCR will be able to assist and advise how to proceed with the matter. 

Here are the contact details to the National Credit Regulator (NCR):

NCR contact details

Reception: 011 554 2700 / 2600

Call centre: 0860 627 627

Email: complaints@ncr.org.za 

Questions may be edited for brevity and clarity.