Form COB — Certificate of Balance
Form COB (Certificate of Balance) is the prescribed instrument by which a credit provider confirms the outstanding balance, instalment, interest rate, fees and arrears on a credit agreement as at a specific date. It must be returned to the debt counsellor within 5 business days of receiving Form 17.1 (see Annexure A clause 2.2).
The Certificate of Balance is the single source of truth used by the debt counsellor to build the affordability assessment and restructuring proposal. Errors or delays in the COB are the most common cause of disputed proposals and Form 17.3 terminations.
Field-list reconstruction (PDF page 68, the source page is a scanned form; the printable visual lives in the original PDF). The form captures the following information:
Header: Credit Provider name and logo, NCR Credit Provider registration number, document title 'Certificate of Balance'.
Customer details block: Customer Name (first name, surname), ID Number, Juristic person registration number (Company / Trust / CC number where applicable), Telephone number (with area code), Fax number, Email address.
Debt Counsellor details block: Debt Counsellor Name, NCR DC Number, Telephone, Fax, Email address.
Part A — Existing Account Details: account category (Mortgage / Home Loan / Vehicle and Asset Finance / Other), account number, current contractual interest rate (per annum), future interest rate, whether credit-linked insurance applies.
Part B — Payment Instructions: Bank Name, Account Number, Branch Code, payment reference, contact for queries.
Consent block — Service of Documents: Credit Provider name, attention person, telephone, fax, email address.
The credit provider must complete every field and return the signed Form COB within 5 business days, as required by Annexure A clause 2.2.
NDRC Practice NoteLast reviewed 2026-04
Statutory anchor: NCA Regulation 24(2). The standardised COB format makes balances comparable across credit providers and is the document NDRC's strict COB task logic checks for receipt.
Drawn from NDRC's active case work. For your situation, see our debt counselling overview.
Cite this clause
National Credit Regulator. (2015). Annexure E — Standard Documentation, clause 1: Form COB — Certificate of Balance. Guideline 001/2015 (Debt Review Task Team Agreements 2010), p. 68.