Defaults and arrears on your credit record
Arrears and a default are different things, reported at different points, with different consequences. Knowing which one you are facing tells you how much time you have — and in the early stage, a phone call is genuinely still enough to change the outcome.
What this actually means for your application
Arrears simply means a payment is behind. It appears on your record as a payment profile, and one late payment among many on-time ones has limited weight. This is the stage where contacting the lender works: most will restructure or accept a catch-up arrangement rather than start collections.
A default is a formal classification, sent to the bureaux after a prescribed notice period, saying the account is no longer being paid as agreed. It is a materially heavier listing and it stays for a defined maximum period set by the National Credit Act.
Paying a defaulted account does not erase the listing, but it changes it to reflect settlement — and lenders read a settled default very differently from an outstanding one. Pay it even if the listing period has not expired.
Check these three things before you sign — here or anywhere
- The lender’s NCRCP number is published on its own site, and it checks out in the National Credit Regulator’s register.
- The pre-agreement quote breaks out the total cost of credit: interest, initiation fee, service fee and VAT — as one figure you can compare.
- Nobody asks you for an upfront “release fee”. A registered credit provider never charges you before it pays out.
Related
Sources and last checked
- National Credit Regulator — register of credit providers — Regulator, as at 10 August 2026.
- National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and its regulations — Government, as at 10 August 2026.
Page last checked 10 August 2026. Statutory caps and lender terms change — confirm anything you intend to rely on with the provider or the National Credit Regulator. Found something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it.