10 months and still no Debt Review Certificate

In late 2014 I realized that I am in over my head with regards to debt - had no option but to ask for help and Octogen was my choice to help me clear all my debt in 2015. My Consumer Nr is ***N

Every single month for the past 6 years (up until December 2021) I paid more than R6000 a month to get my debt down. During the time of being under Debt Review I taught myself how to save up money, not overspend and work carefully with the little I have left after paying the required monies to Octogen who then distributed my payments to different accounts. Up until today I have paid approximately R430 000 to Octogen.

In January 2022 I received a statement which reflected that I am now fully paid up, I couldn’t wait to receive my certificate, acknowledging that I am now fully paid up and now longer on Debt Review. My car is old and as many of you know (whom might be under debt review) is that you cannot sell your car or make any debt while you are under debt review. Since January now I have struggled to get my certificate in order for me to be able to sell my 2009 car which is starting to cost me more money now because of age. To my surprise I received a call from FNB to tell me that I still owe them +/- R4000. That was about 4-6 months ago. After a lot of back and forth and me just eventually giving up on the useless *********** FNB and Octogen staff I paid the money (June 2022). Up until today I still have not received a letter/certificate from Octogen to notify me of my “clear” record. Yesterday someone useless went through my account and miraculously decided that I need to pay a further R4671 in order to close another FNB account. This – WILL NOT HAPPEN! FNB call centre is useless – there is never anyone available (if your call doesn’t get dropped or continuously transferred from one agent/department to the next). Today I went to FNB to find out about this mysterious account and I now there seems to be more than just the one outstanding account, plus – I have another account that has been handed over (this while I was on debt review). Strangely enough the FNB Credit card has been settled but other accounts remain open and unsettled and even handed over????? If Octogen then negotiated on my behalf, how do I now have all these accounts in arrears after I have paid everything on my statement/breakdown every single month for the past 6 years? I refuse to pay another cent. I have done my part for more than 6 years. I have paid more money to you than what I have spent on myself for the past 10 years and you cannot do a simple calculation on my FNB/Octogen accounts to settle this matter once and for all! If this was a mistake on the side of FNB or OCTOGEN then those two parties need to decide between the two of them and get this sorted out. I was not part of any agreements made in court. I was not part of discussions leading to the final amounts that need to be settled. I am not accountable for any mistakes that lead to me having to pay more money that was initially communicated to me. (IF there were disputes then surely that should have been communicated to me timeously). The fault lies with the communication (or lack thereof) between OCTOGEN and FNB. If I was in arrears (or handed over) then surely FNB or Octogen is obligated to inform me about these new developments? Surely when I am the client paying for all this, I should be kept well informed regarding every single payment/non-payment/developments that affect me and my account and ultimately my credit record/rating? Every time I seem to think that the next email from Octogen will be my certificate then BOOM, I need to pay more money in order to get them out of my life. Every single payment I made I did in good faith because of the reviews on the Website Octogen has. One must ask the question – who types these reviews? They are nothing but bias. About how good they are, how well they treat their customers and how much they helped this and that one. Well then – here’s a review for you. If you want to use a Debt Review through Octogen then make sure you have no debt with FNB, if you do – first pay them off and then go the Debt Review route.

I want an explanation of this, and I want this to be sorted yesterday. I am tired of having to borrow money from friends to make calls to get hold of someone who ultimately spins a **** story about how they are not able to see or provide a sufficient answer. I will take this matter up with the NCR, the Ombudsman and take every single course of legal action there is to my disposal and you will ultimately have to pay my costs as you are now giving me no option but to think that this is a ******** way in which you conduct your business.

I will also post this review to FNB because of the manner in which they have prolonged this matter and up until today 10 months later I have no answer.