With the great desire in the credit management industry for information and explanations on the National Credit Act it was nice to come across small and fairly readable book on the Act.

Prof. Otto has written a number of books on credit law and is one of the country’s leading authorities on this area of law. He has now through LexisNexis Butterworths produced a small publication entitled “The National Credit Act Explained”. The book is 134 pages including the index and annexures, which is quite substantially smaller then the regulations to the Act alone. All of this makes this book a good buy for those who want a concise and erudite explanation of the Act and its regulations.

While this is a very basic book and I do not necessarily agree with all of Prof. Otto’s interpretations of the Act it is for the most part a fair analysis of the Act. But we will see the real fun and games starting in this regard when the courts are call upon to interpret some of the more, shall we say, “interesting” provisions of the Act.

With the last statement in mind I would have thought that the publishers should have rather put this publication together with the Act and regulations in a loose-leaf format to allow for amendments and additions to Prof Otto’s commentary when we have the court’s judgments on the Act and to allow more easy access to the Act and regulations when reading the commentary.

However the small book fitted quite easily into my hand luggage and I managed to finish most of the book on a return flight from Durban to Cape Town and back. So all of you who have heard bits and pieces about the Act and regulations but want a good overall explanation of it and are daunted at the size of the legislation, this is the book to buy. This is a book for people who are looking for a very basic overview of the legislation.