Our organisation has gone through changes, with one of the most significant being the merging of the Credit Information and Non-bank Credit Departments. This move aims to streamline our processes and bring about efficiency and agility when dealing with disputes.
The newly formed Case Management Department will in future investigate both non-bank credit and credit information disputes, eliminating the necessity for consumers to go to separate departments when they log disputes.
The move to combine the two departments was necessary due to a number of reasons. For one, we have experienced a decrease in the number of credit information disputes over the last few years and secondly, we wanted to optimise our efficiency in dealing with less complicated matters on the one hand, and more complex legal issues on the other hand.
We are confident that the new structure will benefit our members as well as the organisation and we are hoping to receive members’ feedback or comments in this regard. We also encourage anybody who needs clarity on the new structure or procedures to contact me on rsteyn@creditombud.org.za or 011 781 6431 to discuss any concerns.
This will be the last time we report on the number of disputes separately for the previously separate departments, and will in future change our reporting in order to accommodate the newly established department.
In the last quarter the Non-bank Credit Department opened 1085 disputes, representing an increase of about 11.6% when compared to the same period in 2013. The number of disputes closed also increased by 29.7% when compared to the same quarter in the previous year. We have saved or recovered for consumers a total of R2.78 million, a decrease of about 17.4% when compared to the same period in 2013.
In the Credit Information Department we opened 458 disputes, a decrease of 14.4% compared to the same period in 2013. We closed 717 disputes, a decrease of 8.6% compared to the same period in 2013.
One of the big issues that kept the case management staff very busy in the past quarter related to the withdrawal from the scheme by one of the organisations which had a significant number of complaints under investigation. We had a huge task at hand to contact all the consumers affected and prepare all the documentation in order to hand over the cases to the National Credit Regulator for further investigation.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for your support and assisting us to deliver what we believe is a good service to consumers who came knocking on our door for help. Without our partnership, this would have been an impossible task.
I wish you well over the festive season and look forward to working together again in 2015.
