Nedbank Debt Consolidation Contact Details

Debt consolidation is a new loan used to settle your existing ones, so it is an application you have to qualify for rather than a concession you ask for. If you are already behind, you will probably not qualify, and the debt assistance route is the honest one instead.

Official contact channels

• Nedbank contact centre, for a personal loan or consolidation application, 24 hours: 0800 555 111
• If you are already missing payments, Nedbank debt assistance: 0801 114 949
• If you have a relationship or business banker: 0861 100 033
• Applications can be started in the Money app, in online banking or at a branch. A consolidation loan is assessed like any other personal loan
• Nedbank branch locator will show which branches have a personal loans desk. Most do

What consolidation actually does

• One new loan pays off several smaller debts, leaving you with a single instalment at one rate over one term
• It usually lowers the monthly payment by lengthening the term. That is not the same as costing less
• It only helps if the new rate is genuinely lower than the blended rate of what you are replacing. Store cards and short-term loans are expensive, so replacing those can be worth it; replacing a home loan almost never is
• You will be credit-assessed and an affordability assessment is compulsory. A lender that skips it is lending recklessly

Ask for these numbers before you sign

• The total cost of credit over the full term of the new loan, next to the total you would still pay on the existing debts. That single comparison answers the question
• The initiation fee, the monthly service fee and whether credit life cover is included in the instalment
• Whether any settled account will be closed or left open. This is the trap: a consolidated card that stays open and gets used again leaves you with the old debt plus the new loan
• Whether there is a penalty for settling the consolidation loan early

When it is the wrong answer

• If you cannot afford the current instalments at all, you need debt review or a restructure, not more credit. A registered debt counsellor is found on the National Credit Regulator register at ncr.org.za, or on 0860 627 627
• If the only way the numbers work is a much longer term at a similar rate, the saving is an illusion
• Nedbank Client Complaints Helpline, if a consolidation was mis-sold to you: 0860 444 000

Sources

• Nedbank official debt assistance page, for the debt assistance and relationship banker numbers and for the distinction it draws between consolidation, restructuring and debt counselling
• Nedbank official contact page, for the 24-hour contact centre number and the client complaints helpline
• National Credit Act affordability assessment and reckless lending provisions, and the National Credit Regulator published contact number