Coming during Women’s Month the development should be hailed as a victory for the majority of single-women in the country who have to sacrifice their stretched resources to take care of children whose fathers shun responsibility.
The National Credit Regulator has gazetted new affordability guidelines for the credit industry aimed at bringing child maintenance defaulters to book. This means that parents – who are mostly fathers – will face problems when applying for a loan or any form of credit, as their credit records will be impaired. Members of the public have 30 days to provide their input, before enactment.
The following are highlights of the draft regulations:
- Maintenance defaults will stay on a person’s credit record for five years, or until the court rescinds the default judgment;
- Maintenance payments will be included in all affordability assessments completed when applying for new loans;
- Clients are required to declare if they have any maintenance default judgments.