Debt Collectors Act, 1998 (Act No. 114 of 1998)

1. Definitions

Purchase

In this Act, unless the context otherwise indicates –

"Council"

means the Council for Debt Collectors established by section 2;

"debt collector"

means –

a)	a person, other than an attorney or his or her employee or a party to a factoring arrangement, who for reward collects debts owed to another on the latter's behalf;

b)	a person who, other than a party to a factoring arrangement, in the course of his or her regular business, for reward takes over debts referred to in paragraph (a) in order to collect them for his or her own benefit;

a person who, as an agent or employee of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) or as an agent of an attorney, collects the debts on behalf of such person or attorney, excluding an employee whose duties are purely administrative, clerical or otherwise subservient to the actual occupation of debt collector;

"Director-General"

means the Director-General of the Department of Justice;

"factoring arrangement"

means an arrangement between a creditor and a financier in terms of which the creditor, in exchange for funding, either sells or offers as security, claims against his or her debtors: Provided that such claims are not bad or doubtful at the time they are so sold or offered as security: Provided further that no overdue debt or a claim for which a demand has been made, is part of such a factoring arrangement;

"Minister"

means the Minister of Justice;

"person"

includes a juristic person;

"prescribe"

means to prescribe by regulation;

"this Act"

includes any regulation or notice made or issued under this Act.