The crash course on the South African consumer credit environment continues.

We hope you are enjoying the content up until this point, and thanks for all the comments and questions rolling in. In this blog post, we are going to look at the roles of the National Credit Regulator (NCR) and the National Consumer Tribunal (Tribunal). Two entities that share the same vision of protecting South African credit consumers, but with two completely different job specs.

This is what you need to know.

The NCR has been established by the National Credit Act to regulate the credit industry. Let’s think of them as the industry watchdog. It’s important to note that the NCR is a statutory entity that’s independent of Government. That means this watchdog isn’t swayed by the pack and looks over the entire country with a beady eye (full jurisdiction).

The role of the NCR includes:

• Promotion and support of the development of a fair and transparent credit industry.
• The registration and deregistration of credit providers, credit bureau and debt counsellors.
• The enforcement of compliance with the Act
• Conducting research
• Recommending legislative initiatives
• Promoting consumer education
• Providing guidance to the credit industry

Receiving and initiating complaints regarding contraventions of the Act
So, the NCR is the top dog who acts independently and keeps an eye on the neighbourhood. Nobody enters the credit space without going past the NCR and when they aren’t looking after their pack (credit providers, credit bureau and debt counsellors) they are making recommendations and offering advice.

The National Consumer Tribunal (Tribunal) was also established by the National Credit Act. If the NCR is the watchdog then the Tribunal is the judge and juror.

The Tribunal is a separate juristic entity and has jurisdiction throughout South Africa over the following matters:

• Hearing complaints and disputes from consumers
• Considering disputes by credit providers, credit bureau and debt counsellors
• Confirming, suspending or cancelling registrations in terms of the Act
• Ordering a repayment of excess amounts charged to consumers

Now a lot of this might not seem overly relevant to you.
What you’ve been able to ascertain is that the NCR is the watchdog and the Tribunal is the judge and juror.

But perhaps you should focus on the last point the Tribunal is tasked with – Ordering repayment of excess amounts charged to consumers.

If nothing else, what you have learnt today is that if any of your credit providers have been overcharging you, there is a Tribunal that will listen to your case, make a finding and order repayment of those charges.

And we have a feeling you didn’t know that before reading this post.

The SA Debt Advisors Team