A: Firstly, Debt Counsellors, as stipulated in the National Credit Act (NCA), are not allowed to manage their clients’ money. Rather, the NCA requires that a Payment Distribution Company (PDA) handles the collection and distribution of funds of Debt Review clients.
The three main reasons why the statements differ are:
- Payments are processed at different periods. The PDA will distribute the funds to the creditors, and a couple of days after that the creditor applies the payment to the account.
- The PDA statements include the Debt Review fees (link to that FAQ), whereas the creditor statements do not.
- Creditor statements include the service fee whereas the PDA statements do not include creditor service fees.
Therefore, PDA statements should be seen as estimates. But, if a client is concerned about the difference in balance they should contact their Debt Counsellor to check if there are any discrepancies or issues that need to be addressed.