Some people are better suited to debt review than others. And for certain people, debt review is not an option. For others it may be an unworkable one.
If you have no income
If you have no income and a mountain of debt, try to sell assets to pay off your debts. If your debts exceed your assets, then you may qualify to be declared insolvent. You have to own sufficient assets that can be sold 
to repay your creditors at least 20 cents in the rand.
The benefit of sequestration is that you can potentially have 80% of your debt written off. It is, however, a very drastic step. You lose your assets, you have no control over how much they are sold for and you receive none of the proceeds.
Aspects of your legal capacity are also affected. For example, an unrehabilitated insolvent may not be appointed as a director of a company.
You remain insolvent until you become released from your pre-sequestration debts or are declared rehabilitated, which happens automatically 10 years from the date of sequestration.
Until you are rehabilitated, your credit report will reflect that your estate was sequestrated, and you have no access to credit.
Not over-indebted
If you are not over-indebted, but you’re struggling to satisfy all your obligations and are in danger of not being able to pay your debts on time, a debt counsellor can help you by devising an informal debt rearrangement proposal. The only downside of an informal rearrangement proposal is that it doesn’t protect you by suspending legal action.
Creditors may accept an informal proposal if the reduced instalments aren’t too low. Again, try to sell valuables to settle unsecured debts and make lifestyle sacrifices, like downgrading your house or car, so that you can live within your means.
Getting out of debt the DIY way
If you are not over-indebted, but you’re uncomfortable with your level of debt, tackle your debt yourself. If you have the will and discipline, you can do it on your own. Debt review is not for people like you. Read more: What can I do if I have a debt problem?
Married in community of property
When you’re married in community of property (COP), all that you own (your assets) and owe (your debts) is the property of both partners. Therefore, if one spouse goes under debt review, so too must the other spouse.
Most marriages in South Africa are in COP. If you are married in COP and your spouse refuses to go under debt review, then debt review is not an option for you.
If you were to go ahead and sign the application form to go under debt review without your spouse’s signature, your application will not be valid. Your spouse cannot be included in debt review by default. In this case, debt review may not be for you.
“Ducking and diving”
If you are adept at dodging and evading responsibility and have no intention of paying your debts, don’t consider debt review.
You may be under the illusion that debt counselling provides an extended payment holiday – but this is not what it is about.
If you are living beyond your means and are unwilling to compromise or downgrade your lifestyle, debt review is probably not for you.
The same applies if you have valuable assets which you are unwilling to sell to settle debt.
If this is you, don’t waste your time going into debt review because you are in for a rude shock:
The denialist delinquent
If you can’t take ownership of your debts and your debt problem is a result of reckless borrowing – borrowing without telling the truth about what you can afford – debt review is probably not for you.
If you play the blame game rather than face the truth and think you can delegate all responsibility for your debts to their debt counsellor after being found to be over-indebted – think twice.
If you are not engaged in the process, you are easy prey for rogue debt counsellors - the unregistered fraudster who disappears not long after collecting a fee to rearrange your debts.
If you are scammed in this way, you are likely to find your debt situation becomes more problematic.
If you have no intention of taking ownership of your debt problem and being fully engaged in the debt counselling process, do not go under debt review.
