1 reviews | Active since Dec 2015
More stress and frustration after going under debt review
<p>My husband and I went under debt review in December 2015 with DT Debt Counselling. They promised to cancel all or debit orders and that we would make our one payment through the NPDA. We thought our troubles were halved but in actual fact they have doubled. In October 2016 I found out that my FNB Cheque Account was still being debited for a Revolving Loan I had with FNB, this very loan happens to be under debt review and none of our payments were outstanding. Due to this I was now owing FNB over R7000 due to the debit orders that kept being returned unpaid. I managed to get this money and I paid it to my FNB account but the bank said they could not close the account due to the debit order for the Revolving loan. I contacted DT concerning this and a certain lady named Ntombi told me she would assist, this took so long that the debit order went off again and the banck charged me for this and I was sitting on a negative balance on my cheque account again. </p> <p> </p> <p>I will never forget that e-mail she sent to me which included a phrase that "I must just pay the money ". So I have made losses of over R5000 because of this company's negligence and lack of care and this defeats the whole purpose of going under debt review. The final blow came in now when I realised that my creditors have not been paid for December consequently all our accounts are in arrears. I was shocked and horrified, how can these people put us through this? I would like to warn everyone out there who is in debt trouble like us, PLEASE IF YOU WANT PEACE OF MIND STAY AWAY INFACT RUN AWAY FROM DOCTOR DEBT ALSO KNOWN AS DT DEBT COUNSELLING.</p>
We acknowledge your posting and and will revert shortly.
We acknowledge your posting and and will revert shortly.
We apologise that you feel that you have not had adequate service from DT Debt/Doctor Debt and as always we are willing to rectify any misunderstandings or misconceptions. A full investigation on your case has been done and it is 100% compliant with the National Credit Act. Our staff have always responded to your calls and emails in a timeous professional manner. Unfortunately, we cannot be held responsible for FNB’s internal policies. As explained to you via email and telephonically by Ntombi, internal FNB policies require you to visit the Branch to unlink your Revolving Loan from the Cheque Account. We do not have the authority to do so as you are the Account Holder. You requested her advice regarding unlinking the account and she responded thereto in her professional capacity that it would best to pay the R160 and close the account. As explained to you telephonically by Ntombi, with regard to your FNB cheque account not included in Debt Review we can only include accounts that have an outstanding debit balance. However, the Revolving Loan is under Debt Review. Please see an excerpt from the email below which clearly shows her attempt to answer your questions and assist you.
Ntombie Gongqa (Wed, 2 Nov, 2016 at 11:23 AM) Forwarded to : Sindiswa Dlamini “Point 6. My husband and I had requested that our Cheque Accounts, mine with FNB and his with ABSA also be included in the Debt Review but on the NPDA statements it reflects that only his ABSA cheque account is being allocated payment and the FNB one does not. Please assist in this regard as well.- I got hold of FNB re your Cheque Account- it is not flagged as being under Debt Review. I told them that the Branch refused to close the account. The person I spoke to said you need to go to Branch and specifically request that they un-link the Revolving Loan from the Cheque Account, pay the R160.00 and close it. The Revolving Loan is safely under debt review.”
Your response to Ntombi, acknowledged that the fault was with FNB and you refused to pay the amount requested by the Bank.
Sindiswa Dlamini (Wed, 2 Nov, 2016 at 3:26 PM) "Good afternoon Ntombi, Apologies I was unable to answer your phone call. I appreciate your feedback thank you very much. So FNB is saying that I must pay another R160 to close the account when it is them who have been wrongfully debiting my account and as a result I have incurred these costs. Surely this cannot be right? I have already paid for all the times that FNB has wrongfully debited my account and I refuse to pay anymore. In fact FNB should refund me on all the wrongful debit orders and not me having to pay more, surely there is something that you guys can do about this as my debt counselor I cannot be paying for something that is not my doing. Kind Regards Sindiswa”
So I have made losses of over R5000 because of this company's negligence and lack of care and this defeats the whole purpose of going under debt review.
As explained above the costs on your FNB cheque account were not due to any fault of Doctor Debt but were due to FNB continuing to debit your cheque account for your Revolving Loan that was in Debt Review. During the Debt Review process we issue a form called a 17.2 for each specific account going under Debt Review which confirms to the creditor that you are under Debt Review and requests that they cease debiting you for payment thereof. We also send additional forms to the creditors to try and reinforce this request. Both these processes were followed with your case but FNB continued to debit your cheque account. You also would have been given forms to take to your Bank to again reinforce this request to circumvent the credit providers claiming the Debt Counsellor does not have authority to stop debit orders on your accounts. We suggest you approach FNB directly with regards the wasted costs due to their failure to stop the debit order despite numerous requests to do so.
Doctor Debt has in fact managed to save you hundreds and thousands of Rands through Debt Review. We cannot disclose this amount on the Internet due to our confidentiality agreement, but will be sending you a breakdown of the amount you would’ve paid out of Debt Review vs what you are paying within Debt Review. These savings are achieved by the lower interest rates we successfully negotiated with all your Credit Providers. Your Debt Review has been Court Ordered, a copy of which was emailed to you. This clearly shows these dramatic reductions of interest rates.
Your accusation that your creditors were unpaid in December is totally unfounded. Distribution of funds were delayed due to public holidays over the festive season but all your creditors have received payment as per your plan. You are well aware we do not directly handle your funds but this is done via a Payment Distribution agency. You will receive a copy of your Consumer Statement proving the above to be true.
All in all, we trust that our response is satisfactory and look forward to achieving our mutual objective which is to free you and your husband of debt and put you on the road to real financial freedom. Should you have any further queries or concerns, kindly revert to us directly so that we can be of assistance.
We apologise that you feel that you have not had adequate service from DT Debt/Doctor Debt and as always we are willing to rectify any misunderstandings or misconceptions. A full investigation on your case has been done and it is 100% compliant with the National Credit Act. Our staff have always responded to your calls and emails in a timeous professional manner. Unfortunately, we cannot be held responsible for FNB’s internal policies. As explained to you via email and telephonically by Ntombi, internal FNB policies require you to visit the Branch to unlink your Revolving Loan from the Cheque Account. We do not have the authority to do so as you are the Account Holder. You requested her advice regarding unlinking the account and she responded thereto in her professional capacity that it would best to pay the R160 and close the account. As explained to you telephonically by Ntombi, with regard to your FNB cheque account not included in Debt Review we can only include accounts that have an outstanding debit balance. However, the Revolving Loan is under Debt Review. Please see an excerpt from the email below which clearly shows her attempt to answer your questions and assist you.
Ntombie Gongqa (Wed, 2 Nov, 2016 at 11:23 AM) Forwarded to : Sindiswa Dlamini “Point 6. My husband and I had requested that our Cheque Accounts, mine with FNB and his with ABSA also be included in the Debt Review but on the NPDA statements it reflects that only his ABSA cheque account is being allocated payment and the FNB one does not. Please assist in this regard as well.- I got hold of FNB re your Cheque Account- it is not flagged as being under Debt Review. I told them that the Branch refused to close the account. The person I spoke to said you need to go to Branch and specifically request that they un-link the Revolving Loan from the Cheque Account, pay the R160.00 and close it. The Revolving Loan is safely under debt review.”
Your response to Ntombi, acknowledged that the fault was with FNB and you refused to pay the amount requested by the Bank.
Sindiswa Dlamini (Wed, 2 Nov, 2016 at 3:26 PM) "Good afternoon Ntombi, Apologies I was unable to answer your phone call. I appreciate your feedback thank you very much. So FNB is saying that I must pay another R160 to close the account when it is them who have been wrongfully debiting my account and as a result I have incurred these costs. Surely this cannot be right? I have already paid for all the times that FNB has wrongfully debited my account and I refuse to pay anymore. In fact FNB should refund me on all the wrongful debit orders and not me having to pay more, surely there is something that you guys can do about this as my debt counselor I cannot be paying for something that is not my doing. Kind Regards Sindiswa”
So I have made losses of over R5000 because of this company's negligence and lack of care and this defeats the whole purpose of going under debt review.
As explained above the costs on your FNB cheque account were not due to any fault of Doctor Debt but were due to FNB continuing to debit your cheque account for your Revolving Loan that was in Debt Review. During the Debt Review process we issue a form called a 17.2 for each specific account going under Debt Review which confirms to the creditor that you are under Debt Review and requests that they cease debiting you for payment thereof. We also send additional forms to the creditors to try and reinforce this request. Both these processes were followed with your case but FNB continued to debit your cheque account. You also would have been given forms to take to your Bank to again reinforce this request to circumvent the credit providers claiming the Debt Counsellor does not have authority to stop debit orders on your accounts. We suggest you approach FNB directly with regards the wasted costs due to their failure to stop the debit order despite numerous requests to do so.
Doctor Debt has in fact managed to save you hundreds and thousands of Rands through Debt Review. We cannot disclose this amount on the Internet due to our confidentiality agreement, but will be sending you a breakdown of the amount you would’ve paid out of Debt Review vs what you are paying within Debt Review. These savings are achieved by the lower interest rates we successfully negotiated with all your Credit Providers. Your Debt Review has been Court Ordered, a copy of which was emailed to you. This clearly shows these dramatic reductions of interest rates.
Your accusation that your creditors were unpaid in December is totally unfounded. Distribution of funds were delayed due to public holidays over the festive season but all your creditors have received payment as per your plan. You are well aware we do not directly handle your funds but this is done via a Payment Distribution agency. You will receive a copy of your Consumer Statement proving the above to be true.
All in all, we trust that our response is satisfactory and look forward to achieving our mutual objective which is to free you and your husband of debt and put you on the road to real financial freedom. Should you have any further queries or concerns, kindly revert to us directly so that we can be of assistance.
I have emailed DT a statement from Wesbank indicating no monies recieved for December 2016 and therefore the account now has an arrears amount, unfortunately DT refuses to to take responsibility for anything.
We joined debt review in December 2015 and DT promised us they would cancel our debit orders on our behalf but lo and behold in August 2016 I find out the debit order is still going through and now had accumulated a substantial amount of overdraft due to the debit order being returned unpaid. I managed to put together the amount of money that was required, paid it and I was now sitting at R0, I went to the bank to try and close the account but I could not because of the debit order that was never cancelled by DT. I contacted DT immediately for assistance and they promised to assist if I provided bank statements (if DT had sorted this out at this stage I would not be here) but the debit order went off again and I was now R160 overdraft again (back to square one) and DTs dear Ntombi simply asked me to go back to the bank and simply pay the R160 (maybe in Ntombi's world money grows on trees) and I refused and then another lady named Mariandre sent me an e-mail which DT has conviniently forgotten to include in their response, this lady adviced me to leave the account as it was she would assist me (I still have these e-mails on record should DT require them) but the debit order went off again so she had done nothing and DT seems to think this is fine. What I am trying to get at is that prior to debt review I only owed FNB a revolving loan but after debt review I also owed FNB a couple of thousands due to my Debt Cousellors failure to cancel a debit order. What is it so difficult for DT to acknowledge their failure to cancel a debit order for almost 12 months?
I have emailed DT a statement from Wesbank indicating no monies recieved for December 2016 and therefore the account now has an arrears amount, unfortunately DT refuses to to take responsibility for anything.
We joined debt review in December 2015 and DT promised us they would cancel our debit orders on our behalf but lo and behold in August 2016 I find out the debit order is still going through and now had accumulated a substantial amount of overdraft due to the debit order being returned unpaid. I managed to put together the amount of money that was required, paid it and I was now sitting at R0, I went to the bank to try and close the account but I could not because of the debit order that was never cancelled by DT. I contacted DT immediately for assistance and they promised to assist if I provided bank statements (if DT had sorted this out at this stage I would not be here) but the debit order went off again and I was now R160 overdraft again (back to square one) and DTs dear Ntombi simply asked me to go back to the bank and simply pay the R160 (maybe in Ntombi's world money grows on trees) and I refused and then another lady named Mariandre sent me an e-mail which DT has conviniently forgotten to include in their response, this lady adviced me to leave the account as it was she would assist me (I still have these e-mails on record should DT require them) but the debit order went off again so she had done nothing and DT seems to think this is fine. What I am trying to get at is that prior to debt review I only owed FNB a revolving loan but after debt review I also owed FNB a couple of thousands due to my Debt Cousellors failure to cancel a debit order. What is it so difficult for DT to acknowledge their failure to cancel a debit order for almost 12 months?
I apologise for the delay in getting back to you.
I will be responding directly to you via email attaching the proof that we requested the Debit Order to be stopped on your behalf.
We reiterate that unfortunately we cannot be held responsible for FNB’s internal policies, and our staff were more than helpful trying to assist you with the problem mentioned in the enquiry.
Trust that this matter is now satisfactorily resolved.
kindest regards
Corinne Lewis - Debt Counsellor
I apologise for the delay in getting back to you.
I will be responding directly to you via email attaching the proof that we requested the Debit Order to be stopped on your behalf.
We reiterate that unfortunately we cannot be held responsible for FNB’s internal policies, and our staff were more than helpful trying to assist you with the problem mentioned in the enquiry.
Trust that this matter is now satisfactorily resolved.
kindest regards
Corinne Lewis - Debt Counsellor