Debt review with no support, no consistency, and no compassion

I joined DebtBusters in June and, from the very beginning, the experience has been deeply disappointing and distressing.

When I first signed up, my service advisor advised me to make a payment that same month. I explained that I had not planned for it financially and could not afford the full amount. I was told to “pay what I can,” which I did in good faith.

Shortly after starting debt review, my work shift changed, resulting in a loss of approximately R3,000 to R4,000 per month. This was on top of an earlier and significant reduction in income of around R10,000 to R15,000 due to cancelled overtime, which was the very reason I entered debt review in the first place. Despite this, DebtBusters expected repayments amounting to more than half of my salary, leaving me with no realistic way to cover basic living expenses.

I repeatedly informed DebtBusters of my change in circumstances and formally requested payment breaks. I continued making payments, albeit short, while keeping them updated at every step. These requests were consistently declined, and no meaningful assistance was offered.

My assigned service advisor effectively disappeared after the first month and has not contacted me since.

In October, I received a 189 letter indicating the start of a retrenchment process. I immediately notified DebtBusters and again requested a three-month payment break. This was declined. In November, I was unable to make a payment due to an unavoidable vet bill. In the following month, I faced additional medical expenses. I submitted proof of these expenses and again asked for assistance. There was no help and, in many cases, no response at all.

By the end of November, I was fortunately informed that I would not be retrenched. In December, I secured a new job and proactively contacted DebtBusters to advise that my contract was being finalised and that I would be resuming full payments, plus extra, from the end of January.

Despite this, on the very day I received my contract, DebtBusters emailed me to say they had initiated a withdrawal process. I spoke to an agent who assured me this would be paused once my contract was submitted, which I did that same evening. No follow-up call ever happened.

A week later, I contacted DebtBusters again and was told that services had already been withdrawn due to non-payment, despite the December payment I made and the contract I submitted on 23 December.

To make matters worse, weeks later I was contacted by a service provider who claimed my original advisor was still assigned to me. This is simply untrue. I am now under debt review with no active debt counsellor, which raises serious concerns about how my account is being managed.

Throughout this process, every agent I spoke to gave me different information. There has been no consistency, no accountability, and no compassion, despite my transparency, documentation, and continuous communication.

At this point, I have no choice but to engage directly with my creditors to make alternative arrangements.

Debt review is supposed to provide support during financial hardship. My experience with DebtBusters has been the opposite.