Report creditors acting unlawfully: NCR
If a credit provider withholds your identity document or bank card as surety for a loan payment report them to authorities.
This is according to the National Credit Regulator, which has referred 13 credit providers to the National Consumer Tribunal. They were found to have breached the National Credit Act when lending money.
The regulator's Jacqueline Boucher says these micro-lenders have been found to extend credit recklessly to consumers, overcharge service fees and charge interest in excess of prescribed maximum rates, among other things.
One of the credit providers operates out of Dundee in northern KZN. Boucher is urging consumers to come forward in such circumstances.
"Take note whenever they are not asking you questions like 'What is your income?' and 'What are your expenses?' If they are not then they are trying to short cut the system from doing a true assessment to determine whether or not you can afford a loan," she said.
"This is breaching the National Credit Act," Boucher said.
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