As part of our strategy to add value to all our stakeholders, the office of the Credit Ombud decided not to only focus on consumer workshops for the community, but to also do these workshops for the staff of our members.  We conducted workshops at XDS, Experian and Transunion over the last quarter, taking our education initiatives to the workplace.

“Not only do we have good working relationships with credit bureaus, but they employ a large number of people, so the sessions were able to reach a wide audience,” says Loeto.  “Workplace-based initiatives make it easier for employees to attend and access information on their rights.”

She says the next step will involve rolling out the workshop sessions to more of the Credit Ombud’s members.

Through various public relations initiatives, the office also generated the advertising value equivalent of R6’189’298 in terms of media coverage. This quarter’s increased exposure was due to heightened media coverage around the Joint Credit and Over-Indebtedness Summit which was jointly hosted with the NDMA.“During the year ahead we will be partnering with NGOs who deal with consumer issues to ensure that they are empowered with knowledge to share with consumers all over the country,” adds Loeto.