NCR Task Team Webinar
Consumer Friend this month hosted a webinar with Debt Counsellors all about the National Credit Regulator’s 2009 Task Team & 2010 Task Team Report.
Mr Timmy van der Grjip, who is the NCR Legal Advisor, was on hand to represent the NCR in briefly going through the Task Team Document (it had initially been announced that Ms Kedi Legodi would also be joining). During a 20 minute presentation, Timmy mentioned that the NCR are still committed to the task team and agreements with credit providers. He urged Debt Counsellors to “get back to basics” and urged Debt Counsellors to consider following the suggestions as laid out in the Task Team Guideline issued by the NCR in 2015.
‘the NCR are still committed to the task team and agreements’
While Timmy was fast to point out that the processes in the guideline are voluntary he was equally eager to point out that they are helpful and have solved many past issues experienced long ago in debt review. He also pointed out that the current DCRS system (a computer software option for Debt Counsellors to use when making proposals to credit providers to restructure debt repayments) has its roots in the document.
Timmy mentioned that the format of many documents commonly used in the process these days are found not in the Act or regulations but in the NCR task Team report. This includes the commonly used certificate of balance or CoB document that credit providers send to Debt Counsellors when they ask after a consumer’s debt obligations.
Though Timmy held off going too much into detail about any particular part of the guideline and rather tried to provide an overview of the whole document, he was enthusiastic and really encouraged Debt Counsellors to make use of the suggested processes.
‘encouraged Debt Counsellors to make use of the suggested processes’
The well-organised webinar had a good attendance and, though light on detail, Timmy was able to take and answer a few questions after the presentation. He encouraged Debt Counsellors to take Magistrates to task and on review for rejecting applications, saying that Debt Counsellors were not at court to make friends but to represent consumers.
Some Debt Counsellors pointed to certain credit providers who make DCRS counter proposals due to slightly shifting balances (within a short time period) and spoke about some credit providers who are eager to try to keep their clients locked into specific insurance products rather than allow for replacement with a matching product from a different supplier. These have sadly been issues for many years.
Further Webinars
Timmy mentioned that he will soon be leaving the NCR to pursue a career in consulting (end of March).
As the session closed, he reminded Debt Counsellors that they had also been invited to an NCR webinar (the next day) about a new circular of the NCR, where they have taken on the role of data capturing onto their own NCR Debt Help System on behalf of Debt Counsellors who send them emails.
The circular recently caused some distress and concern among some Debt Counsellors but it has been said that its primary purpose is to lock companies who offer Debt Review Removal out of the industry and or make it hard for them to provide fraudulent documentation to support consumers’ efforts to leave the process while still having a mountain of debt [ more about that in an upcoming article and this month’s Debtfree Magazine].
