Debt review, garnishee orders, prescription, credit bureau disputes and repossession: what your rights are and what it costs to get help.
Most people finish debt review in three to five years. Getting the court order usually takes about two months from the day you apply, and the process only ends when your debts are paid and your debt counsellor issues a clearance certificate.
4 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
When a debt prescribes it becomes legally unenforceable, so nobody can sue you for it or collect it. But prescription is not automatic in practice: you have to raise it, because a court will not apply it for you.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
No. A deduction cannot lawfully be taken off your salary unless a court has authorised it and you have been given notice first. If money is disappearing from your payslip and you were never told, something has gone wrong and it can usually be challenged.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
Disputing a credit listing is free. You lodge the dispute with the credit bureau, the bureau must investigate and ask the credit provider to prove the entry, and if it cannot be proved the listing must be removed.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
Debt review restructures your debt so you pay it off over a longer period and keep your assets. Sequestration declares you insolvent, sells your assets and writes off the shortfall. Debt review suits a steady income; sequestration suits debt that can never realistically be repaid.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
No. A credit provider generally needs a court order to take your car, unless you voluntarily hand it over. Anyone who tows your vehicle away without an order and without your agreement is acting unlawfully, and you can go to court urgently to get it back.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
There are three realistic ways out of debt review: settle the debts and get a clearance certificate, withdraw before a court order is granted, or apply to court to have the debt review order set aside. Once a court order exists, you cannot simply stop paying.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
An emoluments attachment order is a court order that instructs your employer to deduct a fixed amount from your salary each month and pay it to a creditor. It can only be granted by a court, after judgment, and only if the deduction is just and equitable.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
A debt collector may contact you at work, but may not discuss your debt with your employer, your colleagues or anyone else, and may not harass you. Repeated calls, threats or disclosing your debt to third parties can be reported and stopped.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
To check whether a debt has prescribed you need three dates: when the debt became due, when you last paid or acknowledged it, and whether a summons was ever served on you. For most ordinary debt, three clear years with no payment and no acknowledgement means it has prescribed.
5 min read · Reviewed 4 Sep 2026
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