How to Check Your Debt Review Status

Plenty of South Africans are carrying a debt review flag they do not know about - sometimes years after paying everything up, sometimes from a review application they barely remember starting. Before you can fix your status, you have to see it. Here is how.

Method 1: Your Free Credit Report

The National Credit Act entitles you to one free credit report per year from each registered bureau - TransUnion, Experian, Compuscan and XDS. Request yours online and look for a "debt review" or "debt counselling" indicator on your profile. Because bureaus do not always mirror each other perfectly, checking more than one is worth the effort: a flag can linger at one bureau after being cleared at another.

Method 2: Ask Your Debt Counsellor

The counsellor who handled your review can confirm your status on the NCR's Debt Help System, the national register of debt review cases. If your counsellor has closed shop - a distressingly common story - a new registered counsellor or a service like ours can perform the check on your behalf.

Reading the Result

If the flag shows and you are still repaying restructured debts, it is doing its legal job. If it shows but your debts are paid up, you are owed a clearance certificate and a bureau update - see our guides on the debt review clearance certificate and what removal costs. And if you were never actually declared over-indebted, a court route to removal may be open to you.

Why It Matters Right Now

While the flag stands, no registered lender can grant you credit - our page on loans under debt review explains why. Every month it lingers unnecessarily is a month of declined applications you did not deserve. Apply online and we will check your status and map the fastest lawful route to a clean profile.