South African Collection Industry Growing; Now 12,000 Collectors

At a public information session in the South African administrative capital, Pretoria, Thursday, the head of the country’s Council for Debt Collectors told officials that there are now 12,000 registered and active debt collectors in the country.

Council for Debt Collectors’ chairman, Jasper Noeth, said that in 2006 alone, nearly 3,000 collectors had applied for registration, according to South Africa’s Independent Online. This figure represents a 16 percent increase over 2005’s applications. Noeth was giving an update on the operations of the Council in a public information session.

The Council for Debt Collectors was created by the Debt Collectors’ Act, put into force in 2003.  It requires each individual collector in South Africa to register with the Council.

Noeth also said that the Council had received 416 complaints against debt collectors last year.  Of that total, 311 were dismissed and not investigated. Many investigations are still ongoing, although 26 separate legal actions were taken against collectors by the Council resulting in total fines of R850,369 ($119,662).