Ads that read “Blacklisted welcome” to apply for credit are ILLEGAL!

The National Credit Regulator issues a Compliance Notice to Junk Mail Publishing (Pty) Ltd for contravention of the National Credit Act

The National Credit Regulator (NCR) has announced today that it has issued a Compliance Notice to Junk Mail Publishing (Pty) Ltd (Junk Mail), the publisher of Auto Mart car magazine, for publishing advertisements for credit that contain statements that are prohibited in terms of the National Credit Act (NCA). Junk Mail published adverts with statements such as “blacklisted clients welcome, blacklisted and listed we can help”. In terms of the NCA, these statements or phrases should not be contained in the advertisements for credit, says Nomsa Motshegare, CEO at the NCR.

The notice requires Junk Mail Publishing (Pty) Ltd to:

• stop accepting such advertisements for publication;
• review all advertisements for credit submitted for publication for compliance with the NCA before publishing them and to return non-compliant advertisements to its clients for correction prior to publishing them; and
• submit its next version of the magazine with corrected advertisements for credit to the NCR.

Motshegare said Junkmail has since agreed to comply with the Compliance Notice. She stressed that all advertisements for credit from publishers and credit providers must comply with the National Credit Act and should not contain statements such as “blacklisted customers welcome, no credit checks required, free credit” or any wording that has substantially the same meaning.