Elegibility to apply for debt counselling
- If the consumer has no income or no prospect of income in the future the applications cannot be accepted;
- The marital status of the consumer should be verified as set out below before the application is accepted;
- Where the Debt Counsellor is aware of previous legal action stipulated in Section 86(2) of the NCA only that particular debt cannot be included in the application. This means that the balance of the debt should be included in the application;
- The Debt Counsellor must assess the situation and submit his or her recommendation to a Magistrate Court who must conduct a hearing as per Section 87 of the NCA. The matter should be referred to a Magistrate Court before the expiry of the 60 days in order to protect the client.
- Any credit life insurance which makes provision for retrenchment cover should be considered as well and could well be a remedy to reduce debt at a future point in time. In most cases it will be difficult to determine if full retrenchment cover is available at point of application. Debt Counsellors are encouraged to check for relevant cover and to verify this with Credit Providers to determine the impact if possible in the debt situation of the consumer.
- It is also recommended that the Debt Counsellor check for the availability of assets that can be used to redeem debt as described in more detail below at application stage.
Elegibility to apply for debt counselling A consumer as defined in the NCA may apply for Debt Counselling in terms of Section 86 of the NCA. When an application from a consumer is received the Debt Counsellor should consider the following; Section 3(g) of the NCA states the following: “providing for a consistent and harmonized system of debt restructuring, enforcement and judgement, which places priority on the eventual satisfaction of all responsible consumers obligations under credit agreements” Over indebtness relates to existing inabilities to satisfy obligations and future inability. This means that Debt Counsellors should access the ability to repay the debt from future income. Where consumers have no income or no prospect of receiving income to repay their debt, Debt Counsellors should refrain from accepting such an application. This assessment is made by Debt Counsellors in terms of Section 79(1) as the information exists at that point in time. Some consumers might apply for Debt Counselling because of retrenchment or temporally reduction in income and those consumers should not be excluded. In such cases the Debt Counsellor might recommend postponement of payments during a specified period to a Magistrate Court as set out in Section 86 and 87 of the NCA. The important principal to be considered is the ability of the consumer to resume payments in the near future. In the retrenchment example the consumer should find alternative employment in a reasonable period. In practical terms the following issues should be considered at the point of application:
NDRC Practice NoteLast reviewed 2026-04
Eligibility flows from NCA s 86(1): any consumer who is over-indebted may apply. Practically, applicants must be natural persons (not juristic), and not already subject to a sequestration or administration order.
Drawn from NDRC's active case work. For your situation, see our debt counselling overview.
Cite this clause
National Credit Regulator. (2015). Annexure B — Debt Review Assessment Guidelines, clause 2.1: Elegibility to apply for debt counselling. Guideline 001/2015 (Debt Review Task Team Agreements 2010), p. 28.