There are three options available to a person who wishes to be removed from debt review:
1. Debt Review Application Rejection
When you have only applied for debt review and have not yet been declared over-indebted, your application for debt review can be rejected by a debt counsellor if the available information indicates that you are not over-indebted (financially distressed due to your debts).
It is important to note that a debt counsellor can only reject a debt review application if the following conditions are met:
i. You have not previously been declared to be over-indebted; and
ii. You provide information that indicates that you are, in fact, not over-indebted.
This process requires the debt counsellor to issue a Form 17.2 Reject and update your records accordingly.
2. Court Order
The challenge with the first option discussed above is that most people are declared over-indebted shortly after making an application for debt review.
If you have already been declared over-indebted, a Form 17.2 Reject will no longer be a viable option.
In this case, a court application needs to be made, and a court order needs to be granted for the removal of your debt review status.
The court order can then be used to have the debt review status removed from your records by order of the court.
3. Clearance Certificate
A debt review Clearance Certificate, sometimes referred to as a Form 19, is a debt review exit mechanism available where a person has paid all of their short-term debts in full.
For a Clearance Certificate to be a viable option, all of the short-term debts that were initially included in the debt review process need to be fully settled.
A debt counsellor will then issue a Clearance Certificate, attach the relevant paid-up letters, and update your records accordingly.
How Do You Know If You Are Still Under Debt Review?
These are the three debt review exit strategies discussed above. If you applied for debt review and:
i. Your application was not rejected by your debt counsellor (NB: Rejection is different from suspension); or
ii. You never obtained a court order for the removal of your debt review status; or
iii. You never obtained a debt review Clearance Certificate;
then you can reasonably assume that you are most likely still under debt review.
If you are unsure about your current debt review status, contact us and we will give you all the relevant information and debt review removal strategy.