DEBT Consortium

14/09/2018

Gauteng court rules against cheap auctioning of bank-repossessed houses
Ciaran Ryan
A full Bench of the South Gauteng High Court ruled on Wednesday that repossessed homes may no longer be sold at auction without reserve prices, except in exceptional circumstances, GroundUp reports.
A reserve price is the minimum price that something may be sold for at an auction. If no one bids at or above the reserve price, the property remains unsold.
Court rules were changed last year to allow for the setting of reserve prices, but this was applied inconsistently by the judges in the Gauteng court. From now on judges will have to apply the ruling set by the full Bench.
Another aspect of the ruling which is beneficial for homeowners is that they can reinstate bond agreements once the arrears and "reasonable" costs are paid up. The power to reinstate bond agreements rests with the borrower, not the credit provider, the court ruled.
The ruling has been hailed as a victory for homeowners in financial distress, who face eviction from their properties after falling into arrears on their home bond payments. Not only do they lose their homes, they often end up with substantial debt to the lending bank due to court rules that allowed their homes to be sold at sheriff's auctions without reserve prices.
Ground Up previously reported on homes that were repossessed and sold at auction for R100, or even R10.
Ruling to help reduce legal costs for homeowners
Those days are now over for Johannesburg residents, though lawyers following the case believe the precedent will spread countrywide.
"Since the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Bill of Rights in our Constitution, the orders to levy ex*****on against property, which are primary residence, are required to be in harmony with the Constitution, which applies to all law," reads the judgment.
Another part of the ruling relates to the practice of lenders approaching the courts twice for the same matter: Once for a money judgment, where the court orders the borrower to repay what he or she owes the bank – and again for a sale in ex*****on order, which is necessary for a property to be sold at auction.
Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation, which was admitted as a friend of the court and was represented by the Legal Resources Centre, argued that these two issues should be heard at the same time to reduce borrowers' legal costs.
King Sibiya, co-founder of the Lungelo Lethu Human Rights Foundation, hailed the judgment as a victory against abusive banking practices. "Since the Constitution came into effect, more than 100 000 families have been evicted. So we are delighted that the court gave us the relief that we were seeking."
The matter was heard by a full Bench of the court after Judge Willem van der Linde referred four repossession cases involving Standard Bank and Absa to Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, who decided it was time for judges to achieve consistency in their judgments.
Courts now in line with Constitution
The ruling does not make clear what the reserve prices should be. This must be decided by judges based on both lender and borrower placing all relevant facts before the court, including whether the residence is primary or secondary, the extent of the arrears, and the market valuation of the property. The court ruling only applies to primary residences.
Advocate Douglas Shaw, one of the drivers of the change in court rules which allowed judges to set reserve prices, says this ruling will allow Johannesburg homeowners to retain most of what they have invested in their homes, as repossessed properties must now be sold at close to market prices.
In a statement, the Legal Resources Centre said judgment brings court practice in line with section 26 of the Constitution, the right to adequate housing.
"We are hopeful that the setting of reserve prices in sales in ex*****on will stop the practice of homes being sold on auction for next to nothing and create the possibility of a debtor recovering some money from the sale."

The ruling has been hailed as a victory for homeowners in financial distress who faced having their homes sold at sheriff's auctions without reserve prices.

20/10/2017

SA data leak tallies 60 million ID numbers
Despite a population of 56 million, South Africa’s largest data breach reached 60 million unique ID numbers on Thursday of citizens alive, deceased and living abroad.
The database contained names of people, their gender, ethnicity, home ownership and contact information. The data also contained people’s identity numbers and other information like their estimated income and details of their employer.
The incident may be the biggest ever breach of the Protection of Personal Information Act.
The database contained names of people, their gender, ethnicity, home ownership and contact information. The data also contained people’s identity numbers and other information like their estimated income and details of their employer.
What does it mean to me?

If your e-mail is part of the leaked information this means your personal information is available to fraudsters. They can steal your identity and use it on line to apply/order/subscribe to anything.

What can I do about the leaking of my information?

Absolute nothing. The Hawks and NCR are investigating it.

What should I do?

Step one: Check of your info has been leaked:

Go to https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and type your work and personal e-mail. It will tell you if you have been hacked and from where.

Step 2: If your info has been hacked be aware of strange e-mails

In the next few days and weeks be on the lookout for strange e-mail offers. They may use the available info to con you to provide more info. The Golden Rule is to ALWAYS delete these e-mails before you open it. So if you receive a strange email reflecting your data – ignore and delete.

Step 3: Change password if your info has been hacked.

It is recommended that you change your password on applications where your e-mail has been compromised. Especially your electronic bank account.

Have I been pwned? allows you to search across multiple data breaches to see if your email addresses has been compromised.

04/05/2017

Edcon 'club fee' declared unlawful
Petru Saal | 03 May, 2017 11:45

The club fee charged by Edcon to its credit customers has been found to be unlawful and in contravention of the National Credit Act (NCA).
The National Consumer Tribunal made the finding in a ruling on Tuesday.
The judgment followed an investigation by the National Credit Regulator (NCR)‚ which found Edcon charged consumers a club fee on credit agreements.
“It is now settled that the charging of a club fee on credit agreements is not permitted by the NCA‚” said Jacqueline Peters‚ manager of investigations and enforcement at the NCR.
The NCA does not allow for any other fees‚ charges or costs to be included in a credit agreement or credit agreement documents‚ irrespective of the nature of the charge‚ fee or cost.
“This judgment provides clarity to the retailers that they should observe the closed list of fees and charges provided for in the NCA. Consumers are urged to request the quotation from their credit providers so that they can properly check the cost of credit that is being offered‚” said Peters.
The regulator will request an independent audit of Edcon’s loan book to establish how many consumers must be refunded and the total amount to be refunded from 2007.
A hearing date will be set by the tribunal to hear arguments on how much Edcon should be fined.

07/12/2016

http://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2016-12-06-parliament-to-start-drawing-up-new-law-to-provide-debt-relief-next-year/

07/12/2016

At end of June, 9.67-million of the 24-million credit-active consumers had impaired records. Of these, 5.32-million were three or more payments in arrears, 2.58-million had adverse listings and 1.76-million had judgments or administrative orders against them

21/10/2015