When you fall behind with your accounts or fail to make payments and fail to respond to reminder letters the credit grantor may sue you by issuing summons against you.

If you don’t defend the summons the credit grantor will apply for a court default judgment.

A Judgment is a court order. It is public record information where the court orders an individual to pay a debt.

A judgment stays on a Credit bureau's records for 5 years unless it is paid in full. Go to your Goals and see how Kudough can help.

You are entitled to apply for a removal of the judgment if you have paid the plaintiff in full – a settlement letter is required which is sent to the credit bureau for removal of the judgment.

You and the plaintiff can agree to abandon the judgment.

Notice of the abandonment may be filed in the court record, but this will not have the effect of deleting the judgment from the Credit bureaus database Judgments are deleted from credit bureau records automatically after the lapse of 2 years.

Our team of attorneys can assist you in evaluating the judgment in question and even help you lodge a request for rescission.

Call the call centre to find out how we can help you.

Default Data is information on non-payment of an account which is supplied by a subscriber to a credit bureau like a credit provider.

All payment history is sent to the credit bureaus by the credit provider and in turn used by other credit providers when determining whether to grant credit or not.

Default Data where enforcement action has been taken like “handed over”, “repossession” or “written off” and Subjective Defaults Data remains on A Credit Bureau's database for a period of 1 year.

An administration order is granted by a Magistrates Court at the request of the debtor.

Total debts may not exceed R50 000.00 to qualify for an administration.

The court examines the debtor's financial position and appoints an administrator to whom the debtor makes regular payments.

These payments are divided proportionately amongst creditors. An administration order remains on The Credit Bureau's database for a period of 10 years or until it is rescinded in court.

If you're insolvent, you can seek an out-of-court settlement with your creditors, surrender your estate, or in some cases apply to the magistrate's court for an administration order.

In certain circumstances, your estate may be sequestrated as insolvent at either your own initiative or that of a creditor.

Sequestration proceedings are designed to freeze an insolvent estate and to place it in the hands of a trustee, who liquidates it and distributes the proceeds among its various creditors.

If your estate is sequestrated after you have become insolvent, you may, subject to certain conditions, apply for rehabilitation.

If your application is successful (if you are rehabilitated), the court will declare that you are no longer an insolvent and that you are free to trade and contract.

Sequestrations remain on the Credit Bureau database for a period of 10 years or until rehabilitation order is granted.

It is important to note that if an individual has been insolvent for 7 years and then is rehabilitated this; this will THEN stay on the individual’s report for a further 5 years.

This is a legislation that regulates the credit granting industry and protects the consumers.

It primarily applies to all credit grantors and credit bureaus.

If you feel that the information held by any of the 4 credit bureaus represented in your Kudough Status report is not accurate or do not recognize it, you have the right to challenge the information.

Kudough is a Reseller Credit bureau so we cannot do the investigation for you but Kudough will provide you with the relevant dispute information and an explanation of the process.

Knowing who to contact in which situation is another way we are making managing your credit as easy as possible.

Credit Bureaus can only remove inaccurate information; negative information that is accurate will remain on the credit bureau database, as it is required law.

The period that this remains on the database is dependant on a type of negative information.

Investigations are typically concluded within 20 business days of the date the credit bureau receives your request.

The Credit Bureaus will make contact with the credit/service provider concerned and request them to provide credible evidence to justify the information reported by them.

You will need to contact the credit bureau concerned to raise an objection or lodge a complaint (TransUnion, XDS, Vericred or Experian);

You will be required to complete and forward the dispute form together with the required FICA (Financial Intelligence Centre Act) documents and proof to substantiate your dispute to the bureau concerned.

The Credit Bureaus will provide you with a reference number.

It is suggested that all of the above documentation be less than three months old where possible.

The bureau has 20 business days in which to resolve the issue;

If the bureau is unable to resolve the issue, the you should refer the matter to the Credit Information Ombudsman (CIO).