THOROUGHLY CONFUSED - POSSIBLE CASE OF RECKLESS LENDING

I have been a registered debt counselor for 10 years now. My main priority is to ensure that consumers avail protection in terms of the National Credit Act and to negotiate suitable repayment arrangements for over-indebted consumers. The debt review process is quite an involved process and there are agreements between the various industry players to simplify the process. The EDCON debt review department, however, seems to have an extremely skewed view and understanding of the process. On 7 March I received the following email response from the EDCON debt review department: "Please note that we have corresponded with the regulator on this matter to which they will give you the appropriate feedback , note that the Debt review process allows for a debt to be solved for, within a specified period and based on the repayment profile of Mrs P***,the debt will not be solved for even though we have a zero-interest applicable to this account. Note that Debt Review also allows for a DCRS process or a court order to which we have not received or seen an application for. Please note that the proposal made by Edcon still stands at this point in time." That was the end of discussions with EDCON despite numerous requests from me to discuss this matter telephonically in order to reach an amicable agreement. As far as EDCON is concerned, they "do not have the authority to reduce interest rates! This is apparently a matter for the NCR to decide... What utter nonsense!