78: Interest Recalculators > 7. Recommendation

7.1 Consumers should be informed

It was stated above that entities involved in the recalculation of interest go under various descriptive names, such as auditors, business consultants, corporations, financial services and foundations. An interest recalculator, for purposes of this recommendation, are:

a)	that part of an entity’s or an individual’s business, which, in return for money or any other valuable consideration, is directed towards investigating fees, charges, and/or interest charged on any debtor’s account(s), including accounts held at financial institutions.

b)	sellers of computer software packages originating from South Africa, which, in return for money or any other valuable consideration, are specifically programmed to calculate fees, charges, and/or interest charged on any debtor’s account(s), including accounts held at financial institutions.

Interest calculators must, in their sales contracts, include the following (not to be amended) phrases and/or words. These phrases and/or words must be in bold print, no smaller than the print in the contract and are not to be printed on the reverse side of the contract.

"I, the-undersigned (on the behalf of myself or company or close corporation or partnership or sole proprietorship - delete what is not applicable), hereby confirm that it was explained to me and I understand that:

1.	there is no evidence to suggest that financial institutions, as a matter of policy, deliberately overcharge their clients interest;

2.	there is no guarantee as to the time period that the investigation will be concluded;

the responsibility to obtain the necessary financial statements, such as bank statements, rests with (company, close corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship), trading as (trading name of recalculator or whatever the recalculator wishes to call itself) and the investigation will not commence until such time that the necessary statements have been received by (trading name of recalculator);

4.	financial institutions, such as banks, will not necessarily agree with the calculations of the (trading name of recalculator) and these institutions are in most cases prepared to dispute any claim in a court of law; and

5.	it could be time consuming and expensive should (trading name of recalculator) find, according to its calculations, that I do have a claim against a financial institution and this claim is disputed by the financial institution.

(Signed) ..................................................

Date ..................................................

The sellers of computer software packages originating from South Africa, and which is specifically programmed to calculate fees, charges, and/or interest charged on any debtor’s account(s), including accounts held at financial institutions, must print the following on the cover of the compact disc(s)/stiffy(ies)/floppy disk(s):

"Take note:

1.	there is no evidence to suggest that financial institutions, as a matter of policy, deliberately overcharge their clients interest;

2.	to undertake a recalculation one requires all the relevant financial statements, such as bank statements, for a certain period, and this may take some time;

3.	financial institutions, such as banks, will not necessarily agree with your calculations and these institutions are in most cases prepared to dispute any claim in a court of law; and

4.	it could be time consuming and expensive should you find that you were "overcharged" and your claim is disputed by the financial institution.

The sellers of computer software packages as described above, must, should they sell the packages by way of sales contracts, also include the (not to be amended) phrases and/or words in the contracts as required of interest calculators and which was set out above.

Prof T A Woker

Vice-Chairperson: Consumer Affairs Committee

Date: 17 March 2000

Business Practices Committee Report 78

Interest Recalculators

7. Recommendation