Summit Garnishee Solutions has over the past four years achieved some significant victories in challenging unscrupulous lenders and collectors collecting via the garnishee order mechanism. These victories result from auditing unscrupulous behaviour including:

• over stated repayment plans
• the ignoring of the in duplum rule and laws of prescription
• exaggerated collection fees and interest
• enforcing the National Credit Act and the Usury Act before June 2007
• enforcing the Magistrates Court Act.

These victories have resulted in significant benefits for the employees including refunds, reduction in outstanding balances and more affordable deductions. On average Summit has saved R500 per garnishee order it scrutinises, and with over 2 million orders in circulation, it means that over R1 billion is being stolen from consumers by unscrupulous lenders and collectors using the garnishee mechanism. For this reason there is a desperate need for new processes and audits at the Magistrate Court level, something Summit has been trying to achieve since 2003, unfortunately with much resistance from all stakeholders.