There has been a sharp increase in the number of deeply indebted consumers seeking help in the form of debt review, following the introduction of toll fees.<\/p>\n
This is according to\u00a0Neil Roets, CEO of debt management firm, Debt Rescue, who said the last two weeks had seen nearly double the number of clients seeking help, compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n
The controversial Gauteng e-toll system went live on 3 December.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the majority of cases it was mounting toll fees and the aggressive attitude of Sanral’s collections department that scared consumers into seeking help,”\u00a0Roets said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of the new clients we signed up were already stretched to the limit because of the rapid increase in prices of everything from food to fuel and the toll fees were the straw that broke the camel’s back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roets disputed Sanral’s claim that the tolls would have little impact on consumers.<\/p>\n
In November, Tembakazi Mnyaka, chairman of SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral), said that\u00a0road users would be \u201chugely\u201d surprised by the \u201crelatively insignificant\u201d effect e-tolling will have on their pockets.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of our new clients are small business people who operate vans and trucks which are tolled at much higher rates than passenger vehicles. Many consumers are facing ruin and their only option to keep the sheriff from attaching their homes and moveable goods is to go under debt review,” Roets said.<\/p>\n
Roets questioned the tactics used by Sanral which includes threatening emails and numerous telephone calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cSanral has also gone out of its way to try and create the impression that not paying tolls the moment they snap their fingers is a criminal offence. This is absolutely not the case and consumers should treat a toll fine in exactly the same way that they handle any other traffic offence,\u201d Roets said.<\/p>\n
The financial services\u00a0practitioner\u00a0said the legal process to place clients under debt review required the debt counsellor to cut their expenses to the bone in order to settle their outstanding debts with creditors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese consumers do not have any spare cash whatsoever. They are already scraping the bottom of the barrel.”<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they are sufficiently intimidated by Sanral’s bully-boy tactics and pay outstanding fees that we now know may be incorrect because of the many vehicles using fraudulent number plates or overstated because of mismanagement and they miss a single payment to their creditors, they automatically lose the protection afforded to them by debt review,” Roets said.<\/p>\n
Economist\u00a0Mike Sch\u00fcssler<\/a>\u00a0recently warned that heavily indebted consumers who go against getting an e-tag might end up in a \u2018debt trap\u2019 as the bills start to pile up.<\/p>\n E-tolls will kill people: economist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n E-tolls will force SA middle class into poverty<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on e-tolls<\/h3>\n