Debt Clear SA review

Debt Clear SA calls itself a one-stop credit solution provider. Its site lists debt review removal and clearance, judgement rescission, credit record repair, blacklisting removal, removal of old and prescribed debt from a credit profile, rescission of an administration order, rehabilitation of sequestration and an affordability review.

It does not restructure your debts or distribute payments to your creditors, and it does not present itself as your debt counsellor. Its own site says a registered debt counsellor, an attorney or a credit bureau may need to be involved. It says it has attorneys on its panel for court matters.

The name refers to clearing your name on your credit record. The site says this does not mean money you genuinely owe simply disappears.

• Debt Clear SA calls itself a one-stop credit solution provider. (debtclearsa.co.za)
• Its own site says a debt counsellor, an attorney or a credit bureau may need to be involved, i.e. it does not present itself as the debt counsellor. (debtclearsa.co.za)
• It says it uses attorneys on its panel for court matters. (debtclearsa.co.za)
• It states that 'clearing my name' means correcting credit record information and does not make genuine debt disappear. (debtclearsa.co.za)
• It aims to answer enquiries within 24 hours on business days, and says it has assisted thousands of clients (its own claim, not verified). (debtclearsa.co.za)
• The NCR's Circular 2 of 2025 warns that 'debt review removal' businesses may not receive payment until services are fully performed (section 126A(3) of the NCA) and that many are unregistered. (ncr.org.za)
• That NCR circular says consumers have been asked for up to R10 000 upfront for debt review removal that mostly did not happen. (ncr.org.za)

Fees as Debt Clear SA states them on its own website on 30 September 2026. Debt counselling fees are capped by the National Credit Regulator's fee guideline, and the counsellor must give you the fees in writing before you sign.

Sources: debtclearsa.co.za, debtclearsa.co.za.

Checked on 30 September 2026 against Debt Clear SA's official website. Before you sign anything with a debt help firm, confirm the debt counsellor's registration with the National Credit Regulator, and never pay a "removal" or "clearance" fee to someone who contacts you out of the blue.

Sources: debtclearsa.co.za, debtclearsa.co.za.

Mostly no, and this is the point to understand before you pay anyone.

• No voluntary withdrawal. The NCR says the National Credit Act has no process for withdrawing from debt review once you have applied in the prescribed manner. The old withdrawal status was disabled with effect from 7 March 2022.
• No court can rescind the order. After a rearrangement order under section 87(1)(b), no court, not even the High Court, can declare you no longer over-indebted or end the debt review.
• The exit is a clearance certificate. Under section 71 you are cleared when all restructured debts are paid, or when all short-term debts are paid and the only debt left is a home loan that is up to date under the order. Vehicle finance counts as short-term debt. The counsellor must issue the certificate within seven days of that. Payment history stays on your record.

There are a few narrow exceptions, and each depends on facts, not on a fee:

• Before a rearrangement order exists, you can put extra facts to the Magistrate's Court. If it finds you are not over-indebted, the debt review ends.
• A sequestration or liquidation order ends the debt review.
• If you say you never applied and the NCR finds the correct process was not followed, it is deemed you did not apply, the review ends and the bureau listing is removed.

If a credit provider terminates the review on an agreement, you stay in debt review. The only way to lose that bureau status is to pay the full amount outstanding on the terminated agreement. See debt review removal and the clearance certificate guide.

The NCR issued Circular 2 of 2025 about debt review removal businesses. It says:

• Consumers have been asked to pay up to R10 000 upfront for debt review removal, and in most instances the status is not removed as claimed.
• Consumers do have the right to be removed from debt review, but there are circumstances in which they cannot be. The Withdrawal Guidelines describe them.
• Under section 126A(3), anyone offering a service to improve a credit record or remove information from a bureau may not receive any payment until the service has been fully performed. They must also give you a disclosure statement in the prescribed manner and form.
• Most removal companies are not registered with the NCR, so disappointed consumers have no recourse.

In March 2022 the NCR also said consumers were being charged more than R8000 for debt review removal, which is not supported by law.

Before you pay any removal or credit repair firm, ask for its registration details and a written disclosure statement. Ask exactly which route applies to you and why. Do not pay upfront. Debt Clear SA says its costs are explained before anything begins and it does not publish fees, so ask for every cost in writing.

The counsellor amounts are before VAT. The restructuring fee is the lower of the distributable amount or R8,000 (R9,000 if married in community of property), due in month one. After-care is 5% of the distributable amount, capped at R450, monthly after month two.

If you are under debt review and unhappy with your counsellor, you can transfer to another one at any stage without giving a reason and without the current counsellor's consent. Complain about a counsellor to the NCR on 0860 627 627 or [email protected]. See how to cancel debt review for the full picture.