Staff at South Africa’s largest consumer lending banks will practise restraint in the way they sell credit to the public.
Announcing a new code of conduct effective from Thursday afternoon, the Banking Association of South Africa said it was responding to complaints about harassment and inconvenience caused by the forceful overselling of credit.
Among the provisions in the code are restrictions on when sales people may make contact with customers to sell credit.
Bank representatives will also have to advise customers they approach that their calls are about offers for credit, and ask whether the customer would like to continue the conversation.
”If the answer is ‘no’, they will terminate the conversation immediately,” said association chairperson Jacko Maree.
He added that banks would only contact customers to offer credit where they had assessed that, on the information available to them, they probably had the ability to repay the facility.
”For the avoidance of doubt, banks will tell such customers, upon first contact, that, on the information available to them, the preliminary assessment indicates that they probably qualify for the product that is being offered to them.
”Should they accept the offer, they will be taken through the appropriate credit-vetting and Financial Intelligence Centre processes.”
Maree said sales people would not contact customers to sell credit more than once every two months without their consent.
”They will record all outbound call-centre campaigns, and if they undertake to revert to the customer or potential customer, must do so within five working days.”
He noted that in the past the public complained about the non-availability of credit.
”Now, perhaps banks have been forcing credit down people’s throats. There’s less concern about credit not being available, but being too freely available,” he said.
A press conference in Johannesburg on Thursday heard that the principles of the new code would remain in force as a minimum standard even after the National Credit Act comes into force in June.
Cas Coovadia, managing director of the Banking Association of South Africa, said the code was an interim measure and it was intended that all important provisions in it should be incorporated into a revised Code of Banking Practice.
He said that while all members of the Banking Association had agreed to the code, it was important that all other major providers of credit commit themselves to a similar code. — Sapa