WATCH: Don't leave dealing with debt too late

Cape Town - A lot of the time some of the issues that happen to us we know of a bit in advance, said Magauta Mphahlele, debt expert and CEO of the National Debt Mediation Association.

She told Fin24 in a video interview that if you are going to be retrenched, you will get notification that there will be a retrenchment. If you are pregnant you know that in nine months' time you are going to have a baby and this is the impact it is going to have.

Immediately you know that something is going to affect you and your ability to repay your debts, so you need to immediately start planning to ... mitigate risks.

"How do I make sure I am still able to speak to the credit provider and do something about it.

"Unfortunately most of us, we avoid letters of demand, leave it until we get a judgment against us and by that time it is an expensive and difficult process to deal with."

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