At That Point
  • home
  • services
  • about us
  • our thoughts
  • videos

Glaring gaps in the proposed debt intervention Bill

27/2/2018

0 Comments

 
 Author: Faith Ngwenya, Technical Executive at the South African Institute of Professional Accountants (SAIPA)
 
For a long time, South Africans have been warned about the out-of-control debt of our citizens. A lot of this responsibility has fairly been pushed back to credit providers, who in the past have allowed consumers to use up to 70% and 80% of their monthly income to repay debt. This practice is reckless and immoral, which is why the National Credit Act has been established.
 
Last year, a draft bill giving the National Consumer Tribunal the power to extinguish debt in certain circumstances was published for public comment by Parliament’s Trade and Industry committee, which formulated it. The South African Institute of Professional Accountants was one of many entities that made submissions on the draft National Credit Amendment Bill.  
 
The current debt intervention Bill that is being proposed sets out a process that both credit providers and credit bureaus must follow when they are lending money, but SAIPA’s submission highlighted certain parts of the proposal that require further thinking and discussion.
 
Some people are wondering if the intervention is even needed at all?

Treasury is supporting the proposal of the permanent extinguishing of the unsecured debt of over-indebted people by saying that it should be a once-off intervention. The group of people who would be eligible for this are individuals with gross monthly income of not more than R7,500, who have no readily realizable assets (excluding exempted items), are not subject to debt review and have unsecured debt that is less than R50,000.
 
In other words, a debt intervention applicant may apply once to the National Credit Regulator in the prescribed manner and form for a debt intervention, if that debt intervention applicant has at 24 November 2017, a total unsecured debt owing to credit providers of no more than R50,000.
 
During the parliamentary hearings, certain stakeholders argued that the debt intervention bill wouldn’t even be necessary, as this targeted group of people could well be candidates eligible for poor man’s sequestration. So instead of extinguishing debt, it is also crucial to consider the impact of rather putting the responsibility on overindebted individuals to be sequestrated.
 
Risks related to unsecured debt will rise
The debt intervention that is proposed targets relief from unsecured debt, specifically lower value loans to lower income consumers. This has a potential of increasing the risk associated with this unsecured debt because the debt intervention process is focused exclusively on the circumstances of the debtor. If credit providers are denied input into the process, then the inevitable imbalance of risk and return will lead people who have historically been unable to access credit to continue to be unable to access credit. Instead of developing a credit market that is accessible to all South Africans, certain consumers will remain excluded.
 
Problematic consequences of the proposed bill: a stagnating industry
According to the current proposal, credit providers will be tasked with reviewing all the credit agreements of the consumer from other credit providers. This would require the consumer to request these documents from all their current providers.
 
This process alone may stagnate the industry as it will be very time consuming, for both borrowers and lenders. Once the consumer is in possession of these agreements, the prospective credit provider would then need to review each agreement and determine whether they were granted recklessly at the time when the credit was granted.
 
Consider how long this process would take. This additional obligation will burden the credit industry with an array of unforeseen consequences. One unexpected ripple effect could be that competing credit providers could use this opportunity to report their competitors’ agreements to the NCR and competing credit providers could prevent other credit providers from efficiently granting credit. In addition, there could be unwarranted impairment of reputation by allegations that are, in fact, false. As a business in the credit industry, SAIPA views these scenarios as very problematic consequences of the Bill.
 
While some credit providers see the bill as negatively impacting the industry, it has the potential to bring the needed relief to financially stressed individuals that have no source of income. SAIPA supports the debt intervention proposed in the Bill, but wants to highlight these crucial aspects so that a fair and just Bill is passed.
 
ENDS

MEDIA CONTACT: Idéle Prinsloo, 082 573 9219, idele@thatpoint.co.za, www.atthatpoint.co.za 
 
For more information on SAIPA please visit:
Website: www.saipa.co.za
Twitter: @SAIPAcomms
LinkedIn: South African institute of Professional Accountants Company
Facebook: South African Institute of Professional Accountants
0 Comments
    Welcome to the SAIPA newsroom. For releases prior to August 2014 please click here.

    Archives

    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All
    2014/15 Tax Filing Season
    2016 Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill
    21 February 2018
    Accountability
    Accountancy
    Accountants
    Accounting
    Accounting Ethics
    Accounting Institutions
    Accounting Integrity
    Accounting Standards
    Advice For Professional Accountants
    Africa
    Anti-corruption Pledge
    B-BBEEE
    Blockchain
    Bongani Coka
    Brian Purcell
    Bridging The Gap
    Budget 2015
    Budget 2016/17
    Budget Speech 2018
    Business
    Business Budget
    Business Rescue
    Cadre Formation
    Carbon Tax
    Careers
    CEO
    Code Of Ethics
    Companies Act
    Constitution
    Continuing Professional Development
    CPA Ireland
    CPD
    Cryptocurrencies
    Cryptocurrency
    Cyber Crime
    Cyber Security
    Cyril Ramaphosa
    Darren Gorton
    David Van Rooyen
    Davis Commission
    Debt
    Debt Intervention Bill
    Deloitte
    Department Of Basic Education
    Department Of Home Affairs
    Die Hoërskool DF Malan
    Different Types Of Accountants
    Doctoral
    Economic Climate
    Economic Development
    Economic Growth
    Economic Instability
    Economy
    Education
    Empowerment
    Environment
    Estate Planning
    Ethics
    Ettiene Retief
    Exxcellence
    Faith Ngwenya
    Female Entrepreneurs
    FICA
    FICA Bill
    Finance Minister
    Financial Intelligence Centre Act
    Financial Statements
    Fiscus
    Foreign Trade
    Fraud
    Georgina Barrick
    Global Economy
    Government
    Government Institutions
    Grade 11
    Grade 12
    Grant Thornton
    Health Issues
    Honours Degree
    HSBC
    IFAC
    Initial Coin Offerings
    International Business Report
    International Federation Of Accountants
    International Standard Of Review Engagements
    IRC Of SA
    Job Creation
    Job Losses
    Juane Cronje
    KPMG
    Kwa-Zulu Natal
    Large Business Centre
    LBC
    Learners
    Legal
    Malusi Gigaba
    Mandela Day
    Mark Kingon
    Marnus Broodryk
    Masters Degree
    Mathematics
    Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement
    Membership
    Mid-term Budget
    Mini Budget
    Moetapele Programme
    Momorandum Of Understanding
    Money Launderers
    Monitoring Females
    MTBPS
    NAO
    National Accounting Olympiad
    National Budget 2017
    National Consumer Tribunal
    National Credit Amendment Bill
    National Credit Regulator
    National Development Plan
    National Health
    National Imperatives
    National Tax Thesis
    NOCLAR
    Non-compliance
    Non-Compliance With Laws And Regulations
    Norton Rose Fullbright
    Obesity
    PAFA
    Pan African Federation Of Accountants
    Parilament
    Parliament
    Parliament’s Trade And Industry Committee
    Passenger Identity
    Paying Taxes Report 2018
    PE Exam
    Personal Details
    Personal Income Tax
    Pravin Gordhan
    Prem Govender
    Professional Accountants
    Professional Accountant (SA)
    Professional Accounting
    Professional Evaluation Exam
    Project Achiever
    Project Achiever Extended
    Protection Of Information
    Public Schools
    PWC
    Ragiema Thokan Mahomed
    Ragiema Thokan-Mahomed
    Rashied Small
    Repositioning
    Retirement Funding Reform
    SAIPA
    SAIPA Budget Breakfast
    SARS
    School
    School Learners
    Service Delivery
    Shahied Daniels
    Shirley Olsen
    Sibusiso Thungo
    Skills
    Skills Development
    Skills Retention Plan
    Skills Shortage
    SMEs
    South Africa
    South African Institute Of Professional Accountants
    South African Institute Of Professional Accountants
    South African Institute Of Tax Professionals
    South African Schools Act
    Struggling Economy
    Students
    Sugar Tax
    Sugary Drinks
    Sustainibility
    Tax
    Tax & Accounting Thesis Competition
    Tax Administration Act
    Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill
    Taxation
    Tax Clearance Certificates
    Tax Compliance
    Tax Filing Season
    Tax Indaba 2016
    Tax Law
    Tax Ombud
    Tax Payers
    Tax Practitioner
    Tax Season
    Tax Thesis
    Tax Thesis Competition
    Technology
    Tertiary Education
    The Financial Intelligence Centre Amendment (FIC
    Thesis/dissertations
    The South African Institute Of Professional Accountants
    The South African Revenue Service
    The Tax Administration Act
    Thomas Hoeppli
    Tom Mojane
    Transformation
    Treasury
    Trust
    Trusts
    UCT
    Unemployment
    University Of Cape Town
    Value Added Tax
    VAT
    Wealth Taxes
    Winslyn
    Women
    Women Empowerment
    Women's Month
    Workplace
    World Bank
    Xenophobia
    Youth
    Zobuzwe Ngobese

    RSS Feed

CONTACT US

office [at] atthatpoint [dot] co [dot] za
© COPYRIGHT 2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • home
  • services
  • about us
  • our thoughts
  • videos