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Credit Bureau Clearance

Hahn and Hahn is one of the few legal practices that prides itself in assisting people who have been blacklisted by Companies in order to repair their creditworthiness, under its Credit Bureau Clearance Division.

How long do Adverse Listings & Judgments stay listed against your name?

- Adverse listings 1 Year
- Judgments 5 Years
- Sequestration (Rehabilitation) Order 10 Years
- Administration Order 10 Years


Having a bad credit record can have a devastating effect on your life. You can’t buy the things you want, open a bank account or even get that job you have dreamed of. We are specialists in credit bureau clearance and can help you.

Both individual people and companies can be blacklisted. To be blacklisted means that you have a bad credit record. This is probably because you have not paid a shop or other company to which you owed money or perhaps you did not pay them on time.

Being blacklisted can have a very bad effect on your life. If you are blacklisted you will probably find it very difficult to buy anything on credit or get any type of finance. It might even be difficult to open a bank account or get a job if you have a poor credit record. Even if you are able to get finance, it is likely that you will have to pay a higher interest rate or put down a large deposit. It is NEVER a good idea to be blacklisted and if you are, it is important to clear your name as soon as you can.

It is unfortunately very difficult to have your name cleared once you have a bad credit record. Even if you have a good excuse for not paying your debt, like you were retrenched or sick, it will not be enough to have your name cleared. Paying back the money that you owe is also not enough to clear your credit record.

Once you have been blacklisted you will have a bad credit record for anything from 2 – 10 years, depending on the type of listing that you have against you, but even after this period of time, a judgment can be issued against you if you have not paid the money that you owe.

However, paying back the money that you owe to your Creditors is also not enough to have your name cleared from the credit records. You still need to seek help from legal practitioners to assist you in approaching your creditors for consent to remove such listings. Hahn & Hahn Attorneys should be your legal practitioner of choice in such circumstances, as we have years of experience in assisting people in improving their credit ratings.

Different listings can be recorded at a Credit Bureau and these include but not limited to the following:

A. ADVERSE LISTINGS

Adverse Listings are recorded at the credit bureau if you opened up an account or owed your creditors money and failed to pay them. Such listings usually remain on the records for a period of 2 years from the date of the listing, which affects your credit rating.

It is important to note that, companies could insert any adverse listings onto your credit profile in the forms of:

Provided the debt is settled we can arrange with the creditors for the listing to be removed from your credit record as part of the credit repair process. Alternatively, we can arrange to have the listings amended at the credit bureau as fully paid up, which also improves your credit ratings.

However, certain companies, including but not limited to Edgars, Foschini, Truworths, Woolworths, are members of the Consumer Credit Association (CCA) and insist that they would not remove default listings even when the account is fully paid. Your records would reflect that the “account has been paid up” but an adverse is still listed under your name. In essence, CCA members only instruct the Credit Bureaus to update your records rather than removing the listing.

We at Hahn & Hahn Attorneys are against this viewpoint by the CCA members and try to work together with such creditors towards the settlement of accounts and removal of your name from a credit bureau. We, therefore, contact your creditors to obtain an undertaking that they would remove such listings on settlement of accounts.

In addition, it may be necessary for clients to complete supporting questionnaires and affidavits which could enable us to approach creditors with a better understanding of the circumstances pertaining to default listings. Having completed the analysis and obtained such undertakings, we advise clients to settle such accounts through us in order to have such listings removed, rather than updated at credit bureaus.

B. JUDGMENT LISTING

A Judgment listing could be recorded on your name at the credit bureau if you owed your creditors money and they had to obtain court orders from courts of Law (Magistrate or High Courts), compelling you to make payments and granting the creditor (Plaintiff) the right to take action against you in order to collect the monies outstanding (Judgment Debt).

Judgment listings, as mentioned herein above, could be recorded against your name at the credit bureau in the forms of:

C. ADMINISTRATION ORDER

An administration order is a listing that results from your indebtedness to various creditors of not more than R50,000, who apply to courts of law to have their debts paid by you to them through an Administrator. You are therefore required to pay the Administrator, who in turn distributes payments per month to your creditors on your behalf.

In essence, an administration order means that you can not take control of your life in respect of debts, thus you need the help of a third party, the Administrator. It acts as a shield from your creditors in circumstances where your debts are enormous but does not help your credit profile ratings. Nonetheless, we could assist you by applying to the courts of law for the administration order to be rescinded. Having the application granted would allow you to take back control of your finances and not pay the administrative fees, which could improve your credit profile and thus get access to credit.

D. GARNISHEE ORDER

A Garnishee order is a listing by your creditors who, in liaison with your employer, instruct your employer to deduct money from your salary on a monthly basis in re-payment of monies owed to them.

We are of the view that the amount to be deducted monthly should be relative to your income and expenditure. Depending on the merits of your case, we could assist you to challenge this matter on application to the courts of law, either by the rescission of the garnishee or reduction in monthly deductions by creditors from your salary.

E. SEQUESTRATION OR REHABILITATION ORDER

A Sequestration or Rehabilitation order appears on the credit profiles of people who have applied to High Courts of law to be sequestrated or rehabilitated due to financial mismanagement or liquidation problems (insolvency of an estate).

Granting sequestration or rehabilitation orders by courts of law is subjected to several factors under the discretion of the judges, which should not otherwise prejudice your creditors.

However, by complying with certain strict requirements, people under insolvent estates could be rehabilitated through a stringent process of recovery. We could assist you by preparing an application to the High Court, to have the creditors’ application overruled and thus overturn the previous sequestration or rehabilitation order.

HAHN & HAHN ATTORNEYS’ APPROACH

There are many companies who claim to be able to help you clear your bad credit record but many of them are not really in a position to do so and can often make your situation worse by taking your money and doing nothing to help you. We have a great deal of experience in helping people “repair” their credit records and are expertly placed to do so. If anyone can help you with credit bureau clearance – we can!

How to avoid getting your name listed: