Free Lateral Credit Solutions

We know how challenging growing and maintaining a healthy credit score can be, but we’re here to help! 💛💙

What They DON’T tell you about debt review.

Once you’re over-indebted, debt review may seem like an effective way to regain control of your financial situation. This is because in most cases, debt counsellors advertise debt review as a simple way of managing your debt. They tend to solely focus on the positive aspects of debt review while neglecting to inform their clients about the potential downsides of being under debt review.

Positives

Your repayments will also be consolidated into one monthly plan. This means that you don’t need to worry about making multiple payments fit into your budget and you don’t need to be concerned about forgetting one or two of the smaller repayments. The monthly amount will also include any legal fees, debt review costs and repayment interest rates.

While you’re under debt review, your car, your home, and your other assets will be protected under the regulation of the National Credit Act. If you stay up to date with your debt review repayments, creditors will not be able to repossess your assets.

While under debt review, your creditors will be legally obliged to call your debt counsellor and they will not be able to contact you directly to demand payment. This means you’ll have relief from any credit providers hounding you and you can trust that your counsellor will be on your side to communicate with them on your behalf.

Negatives

Entering into Debt Review means you want to eventually be debt-free. As a result, you agree to pay off your debt, while not taking on any extra credit during the process. Your credit record will show that you are under debt review, and you will be automatically disqualified if you apply for any credit loans. Only once you have completed the process, will you receive a Clearance Certificate which allows you to apply for credit.

Since you’ll be paying lower monthly instalments, paying off your debt might take a little longer. This means that you could spend a long time without being able to use credit to purchase a vehicle, a phone or any expensive goods that you may not be able to afford otherwise. So, it is very important that you consider the negative impacts of being under debt review before agreeing to it. However, if you’re already under debt review, contact us for assistance.

Living expenses such as fuel/transport, groceries, electricity, school fees etc. seem to be ever-increasing while the average person’s salary seems to remain the same. If you relate to that sentence, you probably find yourself wondering how you’ll make ends meet or how you’ll make it through the month while external factors such as load shedding continue to pile on the pressure. What should you do?

In such cases, most people would make use of credit facilities to bridge the gap between their salary and their increased living expenses. However, this is not a good long-term solution because it’ll only increase your expenses further down the line.

So instead, we have compiled five simple ways to adjust your spending that will help remove some of the financial pressure you may be experiencing. Now, some of these methods may be easier said than done, but once implemented, you’ll find that a little really does go a long way.

1. Draw Up a Monthly Budget:

The most important step to controlling your financial situation is being able to manage and track your finances and expenses. By drawing up a budget, you’re able to see areas of excessive expenditure and can adjust your monthly spending accordingly.

By reducing unnecessary expenses, you’ll find that these small savings add up and make a significant difference in your financial situation.

We’re aware that sometimes, it may not be as simple as cutting or trimming out some expenses as some of it may be contractual or some form of obligation but, learning to control and understand your spending habits is a good starting point.

2. Start a Side Hustle:

Sometimes, you simply just do not earn enough money to cover all your expenses, regardless of how well you manage your money. In this case, the only way of surviving is supplementing your income with a second job or an online business.

While not everyone may have the time or resources to start a business or get another job, there are online jobs such as being a virtual assistant or running social media for small companies can add the extra cash flow you need to make ends meet.

3. Seek Better Prices:

Saving a few Rands on every purchase you make may seem tedious, but this will benefit you overtime since those savings will compound. So, it’s best that you do a little research about which grocery stores and/or fuelling stations have the best prices and/or deals on offer. Also, make use of the rewards card that these stores have on offer because they offer points and discounts which will help you save money whenever you’re shopping.

4. Unsubscribe From Unnecessary Services:

Services such as DSTV, Netflix or YouTube Premium offer quite a convenient and pleasant user experience, however, if there’s a free option that offers a similar experience, perhaps it’s time to consider cancelling your subscription.

We’re aware that cancelling a single subscription may not make much of a difference since these subscriptions don’t cost much on their own but, you could end up saving hundreds (or even thousands) of Rands every month by cancelling multiple services that you don’t need or regularly use, even if its temporary.

5. Continue Paying Your Debts:

When times are tough, one might be tempted to stop paying their debts so that they may have more money in their pocket each month, but this is a terrible mistake. If left unpaid, your debt will continue to pile up since there are extra fines and fees that will accumulate, along with the outstanding amount. So, by refusing to pay your debts, you are only making matters worse since your expenses will increase down the line, especially when debt collectors get hold of you…

10 warning signs that you may be over-indebted

Ten Warning Signs That You May Be Over-indebted 1. You spend more than what you earn every month According to the latest Deloitte consumer survey, 70% of South African citizens spend all, or even more, than what they earn from their main source of income each month, this is the first sign of a debt/Spending problem. Without having a budget in pla...

Learning and understanding the inner workings of the credit system can be a time-consuming and daunting task, with many people often learning some of the lessons the hard way through overindebtedness, poor financial/credit management, declined credit applications etc.

To address this issue, our expert consultants have worked tirelessly to distill the most important information into a simple and concise ebook that addresses the most common credit-related issues that have affected our clients over the years.

Once you've read the Navigating Credit ebook, you'll have a deeper understanding of how credit works; how to use credit to your advantage; how to change the way you think about credit, how to manage your credit, how to improve your credit rating, how to use credit as a wealth building tool and more!

Navigating Credit Ebook Learning and understanding the inner workings of the credit system can be a time-consuming and daunting task, with many people often learning some of the lessons the hard way through overindebtedness, poor financial/credit management, declined credit applications etc. To address this issue, our expe...

Being under debt review can be quite a troublesome position to be in since you cannot use any lines of credit. That's why we've compiled an article explaining how you can withdraw from debt review, if you wish to do so!

Read more below:

How to Withdraw From Debt Review Withdrawing from debt review requires legal assistance as debt counsellors aren’t able to assist on their own, this process differs depending on your financial status and whether you’ve paid all your outstanding debts. If you have been declared over-indebted, as is the case for anyone under debt...