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Banking regulation > National Credit Act > National Credit Act
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The National Credit Act (NCA)
Does the NCA apply to you?
The NCA applies to all natural persons.
How does the NCA affect you?
How does the NCA protect you against over indebtedness?
What should you do if you feel that you may be over indebted?
Debt review Helpline
How do you resolve a complaint?
The National Credit Act (NCA)
As a registered credit provider, we fully support the National Credit Act (NCA), which came into effect on 1 June 2007, and have implemented the necessary policies and procedures to meet the requirements of the NCA. The NCA replaces the Usury Act and the Credit Agreements Act. The information that follows will assist you in understanding how this legislation affects you.
Does the NCA apply to you?
The NCA applies to all credit agreements between parties dealing at arms
length (where there is no personal interest between the parties).
The NCA distinguishes between natural and juristic persons.
| Natural persons |
Juristic persons
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• Personal customers
• Sole proprietors
• Trusts with two or less natural person trustees
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• Partnerships
• Close corporations
• Companies
• Trusts with three or more trustees |
The NCA applies to all natural persons.
Only certain provisions of the NCA apply to juristic persons. Provisions relating
to marketing, over indebtedness and reckless credit do not apply to juristic
persons.
The NCA in its entirety does not apply to juristic persons with an asset value
or annual turnover of more that R1 million nor does it apply to juristic persons
with an asset value or annual turnover of less than R1 million who enter into
a mortgage agreement or an agreement with a loan value of more than
R250 000. (See the diagram below)
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How does the NCA affect you?
The NCA affects all credit agreements entered into after 1 June 2007. Credit agreements
entered into before 1 June 2007 remain unchanged and are governed by their original
terms and conditions. There are however certain provisions of the NCA which apply
to existing agreements.
Listed below are some of the provisions of the NCA which we feel may be important
for you to note as they apply to natural persons.
| Credit agreements entered into after 1 June 2007 |
Credit agreements entered into before and after 1 June 2007 |
| What rights do you have? |
- The right to apply for credit
- The right to be protected against discrimination in respect of the
granting of credit
- The right, to be given reasons for credit being refused
- The right to information in an official language
- The right to information in plain and understandable language
- The right to receive documents
- The right to protection of customer credit rights
- The right to confidential treatment
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- The right to access and challenge credit records and information
- Credit bureaux contact details:
Experian: 0861 10 56 65
Trans Union (ITC): 011 214 6000
- The right to pay any amount owed to us in advance
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| General |
- When entering into a new credit agreement with you, we will need to
obtain your consent to market other products to you
- We are no longer permitted to pre-approve credit facilities
- We will give you notice before submitting negative information about
you to credit bureaux
- If you are married in community of property, you must obtain the
written consent of your spouse before you apply for a loan
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- Interest rates, fees and charges will not change, except in accordance
with your original credit agreement. If these change, we will notify
you
- Should you fail to meet your obligations in terms of your agreement,
you will be considered to be in default
- Once we have notified you of your default you have the following
options available to you:
- You may make arrangements with us to bring your payments up to date.
- You may consult an independent debt counsellor
- You may contact an alternative dispute resolution agent, consumer
court or the Ombudsman for Banking Services to resolve any dispute
- You will become liable for default administration costs and if legal
action is taken against you, collection costs will be charged to you
as well
- Should you have a credit facility, such as an overdraft or credit
card, we may also suspend this facility without notice to you or withdraw
all or part of your credit facility on notice to you
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How does the NCA protect you against over indebtedness?
The NCA requires that credit providers perform a full credit assessment before
entering into a credit agreement with the customer, this includes taking reasonable
steps to ensure that:
o The customer understands the rights and obligations and the risks
and costs
associated with the credit agreement
o The customer is able to repay the loan
In order to ensure that we protect you against over indebtedness we, in addition
to our normal credit assessment, now perform an assessment of repayment ability
for each loan application.
In order to ensure that you understand your rights and obligations and the risks
and costs associated with the credit agreement you will receive a comprehensive
pre-agreement statement and quotation that clearly identifies all the costs
involved, the risks associated with the loan, and your rights and obligations.
The quote is valid for a minimum of five business days during which you will
be given an opportunity to consider the credit being offered. If you have any
questions relating to this document we will assist you.
What should you do if you feel that you may be over
indebted?
You may be over indebted if – after deducting reasonable living expenses
from your total income – you are or will soon be unable to repay your
debts. If you believe you are over indebted you should contact us and we will
asses your situation and assist you in applying for debt review, if necessary.
Debt review Helpline
How do you resolve a complaint?
Your first point of contact in resolving a complaint should always be your home
branch or alternatively our Customer Relations Centre. If the complaint has
not been resolved to your satisfaction then you may contact the Ombudsman for
Banking Services or the National Credit Regulator.
| Customer Relations Centre: |
0860 101 101 |
| Ombudsman for Banking Services: |
0860 800 900
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| National Credit Regulator |
0860 627 627 |
National Credit Regulator Web address: |
www.ncr.org.za |
 Click
here to read the act in full.
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