Meerkat

Many South Africans struggle to carry a mountain of debt while trying to cover the costs of everyday life.

The good news is that Meerkat offers several financial solutions to help you free yourself of debt and build a future without it.

Why Meerkat was founded in 2016

After more than 20 years of collecting, compiling, and analysing risk profiles in the insurance industry, David O'Brien devised a better way to help people avoid the debt trap.

He founded Meerkat and developed a range of products aimed at reducing your reliance on debt while encouraging and improving your ability to save.

This company is built on the foundations of belonging, staff development, respect, integrity, and excellence. When you join Meerkat, you become a part of their family and are protected and cherished.

Each employee is given the training and tools to help you achieve your goals, be they savings or completing the debt review process.

Meerkat’s savings and insurance policies

While Meerkat is proud of its debt management solutions, it’s also passionate about helping you build up a savings reservoir to cover anything life throws at you.

Meerkat savings plans from as low as R25 per month are structured to guarantee that the interest earned will always beat inflation.

You can also take advantage of their comprehensive credit life cover. This policy exists to help you keep paying off your debt in case of retrenchment, disability, serious illness, or death.  They also offer funeral policies to help your family cover costs in case of death.

Consolidation loans vs debt counselling

With consolidation loans, you add up what you owe, taking early settlement fees into account and borrowing what you need to pay off the total. While this allows you to save money on banking, interest, and service fees, you must have a relatively high credit score to make it a viable option.

On the other hand, to be eligible for debt counselling, you must be overindebted. Simply put, your debt and financial obligations must outweigh your monthly income. Another significant difference is that the consolidation of your debt is done by an industry professional who has the authority to negotiate more affordable repayments on your behalf.

Unfortunately, it’s much too easy to go from using debt as a tool to relying on it to get you from one paycheck to the next.

While the National Credit Act is in place to help you avoid the debt trap, it also provides solutions such as debt review to help you deal with the worst-case scenarios.

The debt review process in a nutshell

When you apply for debt review, Meerkat will ask you to provide them with your financial documentation.

They’ll review your situation, and if you qualify for debt counselling, they’ll contact your creditors to inform them that you’re under debt review. Once credit providers have been notified, all future contact related to your debt must go through Meerkat.

Your debt counsellor will then get to work consolidating your debt and calculating an affordable repayment based on your financial obligations and the cost of living. Once the negotiations are successful, and a court order is in place, Meerkat will take over the distribution of payments to your creditors.

How Meerkat makes your debt more affordable

When compared to bankruptcy and sequestration, debt review is by far a more appealing option.

The process not only saves you from being blacklisted or having legal action brought against you, but it also protects your assets. Best of all, Meerkat is empowered to negotiate the dismissal of service fees, lower interest rates, and longer loan terms on your behalf.

Debt review, at its core, is a compromise between you and your creditors from which both parties benefit. With a debt counsellor as a mediator, they’ll get paid, and you get an affordable, restructured payment plan.

Secured and unsecured loans are covered

According to the NCA, only debts that fall into the category of credit agreements can be covered by debt review. So while your phone, vet, and dentist’s accounts are omitted, home and vehicle finance, unsecured personal loans, and even pawn-for-cash deals will be.

Once you’ve reached the end of the review process, each of your creditors will send Meerkat a paid-up letter that will be used to issue you a clearance certificate. They’ll also forward the certificate to all relevant credit bureaus and start the process of having your negative credit history erased.