How to Get Your Debt Review Clearance Certificate When Your Counsellor Has Gone Quiet

You have made your final payment, and the one person who is supposed to hand over the document that ends it all has deregistered, closed their practice or stopped answering calls. This article covers what the debt review clearance certificate is, who can still issue it when your counsellor cannot, and the proof you should start gathering yourself today. It also explains how to spot a counsellor who finishes the job before you ever rely on one.

What the clearance certificate is

The clearance certificate is the document that formally ends your debt review once your debts are settled. In the industry it is known as Form 19, and it is the piece of paper that tells the credit bureaus you are no longer under debt review. Without it, the flag can stay on your credit record even though you owe nothing, and lenders may keep turning you away. So it matters, and it matters most at exactly the moment your counsellor has vanished.

Normally the counsellor who handled your review issues it after confirming that every debt has been paid or settled. They usually send it to the credit bureaus as well. That process assumes your counsellor is alive to the task. When they are not, the certificate does not issue itself, and the burden of chasing it falls on you.

Who can issue it when your counsellor cannot

Another registered debt counsellor can take over your file and issue the certificate, and in most cases that is the cleanest route. When a counsellor deregisters or closes a practice, their files are often transferred to another registered counsellor, and the regulator can usually tell you whether that has happened with yours. Contacting the National Credit Regulator is therefore a sensible early step: they keep the register of who is and is not allowed to practise, and they can point you towards whoever now holds your file.

One wrinkle worth knowing about. If your debt review was made an order of court, ending it can involve the court as well as the counsellor. A counsellor who takes over your file will be able to tell you whether that applies to you and what it would involve. It is rarely a reason to panic, but it is a reason to get proper help rather than hoping the paperwork sorts itself out.

The proof you should gather yourself

Start collecting written confirmation of your final payments now, because you will need them whoever ends up issuing the certificate. The new counsellor, or the regulator, cannot simply take your word that you have paid everything. Gather what you can from these sources:

• Settlement or paid-up letters from each credit provider, asked for in writing
• Final statements from the company that distributed your monthly payments
• Proof of your last debit order or payment, such as a bank confirmation
• Any documents you still have from when you applied, including the court order if there was one

Email rather than phone where you can, so that you hold a written trail. Credit providers deal with this request regularly and can usually produce the letters without much fuss. While you gather these, you can also compare registered debt counsellors on our directory of counsellors to see who might take your file over.

Asking a new counsellor to finish your file

A counsellor taking over a file at the end usually charges a fee for issuing the certificate, and you should ask for the current fee in writing before you commit. Fees vary between counsellors, so a quotation should be clear and you should not be pushed into extras you do not need. When you approach someone, give them the short version: your counsellor is no longer practising, you have paid everything, and you need the certificate issued. A competent counsellor will ask for your proof of payment and take it from there.

Be a little careful about who you approach at this stage. Some businesses prey on people who sound desperate to be finished with debt review. A registered counsellor will be listed with the regulator, and you can check that listing yourself before you hand over anything.

Taking it up with the regulator

If no counsellor is reachable and no file transfer has happened, the regulator is the body that can help unpick the situation. You can lodge a complaint with the National Credit Regulator about a counsellor who has abandoned your file, and complaints of that kind are taken seriously. Keep your complaint factual: dates, payment amounts, attempts to make contact. The regulator cannot magic a certificate out of thin air, but it can apply pressure, direct you to whoever holds your records, and in some cases assist with next steps through the proper channels.

Expect this route to take patience rather than money. You are not asking for a favour, you are asking for a process to be completed that you have already paid for.

What reviews reveal about counsellors who strand clients

Reviews written by past clients are one of the few ways to find out whether a counsellor sees the job through to the certificate, because the ending is where service sometimes falls apart. A counsellor can be warm and helpful at the start and hopeless in the final stretch, and the start is all you see when you sign up. Look specifically for reviews that mention the exit: did the certificate arrive, did the credit record clear, did the counsellor keep responding once the payments stopped? Our write-ups of the best debt review companies in South Africa are a good place to see what a strong finish looks like from the outside.

A cluster of reviews complaining about silence at the end tells you something no advert will. One unhappy review might be noise. A pattern is information.

Life after the certificate

Once the certificate is issued and the bureaus update their records, you are out of debt review and can borrow again where a lender will have you. The update is not always instant, so check your credit report afterwards and query anything that lingers. If you are weighing up what to do about credit now that the flag is gone, our guide to loans for people under debt review covers how lenders look at your situation. And if you know someone still mid-review who wants out early, the process is quite different, as we explain in how to remove debt review before you pay anyone.

Whichever route you take, keep copies of everything, including the certificate itself once you have it. Then compare registered debt counsellors before you need anything from one again.

Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash