General information, not financial or legal advice. KayaClear is not a credit provider, not a debt counsellor and not the National Credit Regulator. We do not recommend any lender, product or debt counsellor.
Prescribed debt: your rights
Most debts prescribe, meaning they can no longer be enforced, if 3 years pass without a payment, an acknowledgement or a summons. Section 126B of the National Credit Act stops prescribed credit debt being sold or collected once you raise it.
1 point we are still verifying
The Act counts the period as a lapse of years but does not set out how the last day is counted; KayaClear shows the anniversary date and says that the exact day can matter.
General information, not legal advice. Whether a particular debt has prescribed depends on the facts. If you have been served with a summons, get legal advice quickly.
How long it takes
3 years (s11(d)): most debts, including loans, credit cards, store accounts and other credit agreements.
6 years (s11(c)): a bill of exchange or other negotiable instrument (e.g. a cheque or promissory note), or a notarial contract.
15 years (s11(b)): a debt owed to the state from a loan of money or a sale or lease of land by the state.
30 years (s11(a)): a debt secured by a mortgage bond, a judgment debt or a tax debt.
The period runs from when the debt is due (section 12). For an account paid in instalments, that can be each missed instalment, or the date the full balance was called up.
What restarts the clock
A payment, a promise to pay or any other acknowledgement of the debt (section 14).
Service of a summons or other process claiming the debt (section 15).
According to the National Credit Regulator, a debt has prescribed when for 3 consecutive years you have not been summonsed for it, have not acknowledged it, and have not paid or promised to pay.
Your rights under the NCA
No one may sell a prescribed debt under a credit agreement (section 126B).
No one may continue collecting it, or re-activate it, once you raise prescription.
The NCR says you may ask for proof of when the last payment was made and whether a summons was ever issued, and that once you have told the collector the debt has prescribed, they must stop contacting you.
A court does not raise prescription on its own: you have to raise it (section 17 of the Prescription Act). Under section 126B of the NCA, collection must stop once you raise prescription with a debt collector or credit provider.
Can a phone call restart the clock?
An acknowledgement of the debt, written or spoken, interrupts prescription before it is complete, and so does a payment. Be careful what you agree to on a call about an old debt.
General information, not financial or legal advice. KayaClear gives general information and estimates based on the National Credit Act 34 of 2005, the National Credit Regulations, the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 and the figures you enter. It is not financial advice as defined in the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS), and not legal advice. KayaClear is not a credit provider, not a registered debt counsellor and not an authorised financial services provider, and does not recommend any lender, credit product, debt counsellor or debt solution. It is not connected to the National Credit Regulator (NCR) or the National Consumer Tribunal. Your credit agreement, statements and certificate of balance show the actual amounts. For complaints about credit, contact the NCR; for help with over-indebtedness, a debt counsellor registered with the NCR.