Unfortunately I was on away most of last week giving seminars on credit management and debt collections throughout the country and unable to post anything on the blog.

However on my travels I did hear, from a reliable source, an interesting explanation of the question of the missing debt counsellors appointed in terms of the National Credit Act. Previously I had reported on the anomaly of the fact that the National Credit Regulator’s office had said that there would initially be 500 debt counsellors but that their website only reflects 35 registered counsellors. My source attributes the reason for this to the fact that of the 500 counsellors that were trained, only 37 pasted the requisite examinations with the required 80% exam results.

In addition it would still appear that the issue of how these poor debt counsellors are going to be paid also seems to be unresolved, with suggestions that they be paid by the largest creditor obviously not being well received by the credit providing community. I mean not only would the lead creditor have reduced payments on their debt but they would also have to pay the debt counsellor for the privilege of it all. If I were a debt counsellor and even if I had pasted the exam, I’m not so sure I would want to do the job at the moment, unless obviously they are being paid some sort of interim payments from the NCR pending the resolution of the issue.