How to check if a debt has prescribed

Checking whether an old debt has prescribed comes down to three questions. When did the debt become due? When did you last pay anything or admit that you owed it? Was a summons ever served on you? If more than three years have passed since the later of the first two, and no summons was served, an ordinary debt such as a credit card, store account or personal loan will normally have prescribed under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969.

Prescription means the creditor loses the right to enforce the debt. It does not mean the debt was paid. And it is not automatic in the practical sense: a court will not apply prescription for you, so you have to raise it.

Step 1: Identify what kind of debt it is

The period is not the same for everything.

• Three years for ordinary contractual debt, which covers most consumer credit: credit cards, store accounts, personal loans, overdrafts, vehicle finance, cellphone contracts, and unpaid municipal and telephone accounts.
• Thirty years for a mortgage bond, a judgment debt, and certain debts owed to the state such as those arising from mining rights and profit shares.

If a judgment has already been granted against you, prescription will not help. That is why the first thing to check is your credit report.

Step 2: Pull your credit report

You are entitled to a free credit report once a year from each registered credit bureau. The main bureaus in South Africa include TransUnion, Experian, Compuscan and XDS, and they hold different data, so pull more than one.

On the report, look for:

• the account, the credit provider and the date it was opened
• the date of last payment and the date the account went into default
• any court judgment recorded against you, with a date
• any administration or debt review flags

A judgment on the record is a red flag for prescription purposes, because it converts the debt into a 30 year debt.

Step 3: Find the date of your last payment

This is the number that usually decides the case, and bank statements are the best proof. Order statements covering the period around when you stopped paying. A single small debit order, a partial payment, or even a payment made by a family member on your behalf can move the date.

If you cannot get statements that far back, ask the creditor in writing for a full statement of account showing every payment received. A collector who wants to be paid will usually provide it.

Step 4: Look for any acknowledgement

An acknowledgement made before the three years are up restarts them. It does not have to be formal. Things that typically count:

• signing an acknowledgement of debt
• agreeing, in writing or by phone, to a payment arrangement
• an email or SMS saying you will pay when you can
• a payment of any size
• including the debt in a debt review application or an administration order

Search your email, your SMS history and your WhatsApp for the creditor's name or the account number. If you dealt with a collection agency at any point, that correspondence matters as much as correspondence with the original creditor.

Step 5: Check whether a summons was ever served

This is the step people skip, and it is the one that most often produces a surprise. A summons served at an old address, or on a family member at that address, can be valid service even though you never saw it. If a summons was served, prescription was interrupted, and if default judgment followed, the debt is now a judgment debt.

Ways to check:

• your credit report, which records judgments
• the clerk of the civil court in the district where you lived at the time, using your ID number
• asking the creditor or collector in writing for the case number and a copy of the return of service

Step 6: Do the arithmetic

Take the later of the date the debt became due and the date of your last payment or acknowledgement. Add three years. If that date has passed, and no summons was served in the meantime, the debt has very likely prescribed. Our prescription checker will do this calculation with you and flag the things that interrupt the clock.

Note that prescription can also be delayed in certain circumstances, for example while the debtor was outside the country, so an unusual history is worth checking with an attorney.

A worked example

Mandla took out a personal loan in 2018 and made his last payment on 15 June 2021. In 2022 a collection agency phoned and he said, without thinking, that he would "sort it out after Christmas". In August 2025 a different agency writes to him demanding R21 000.

He works through the steps. His credit report shows the account in default from July 2021 and no judgment. His bank statements confirm the June 2021 payment as the last. Then the 2022 call comes back to him. If that conversation amounted to an acknowledgement that he owed the money, the three years restarted from that date, which would put the prescription date somewhere in late 2025, not June 2024. Whether a vague remark like that counts is a question of fact, and the collector would need to prove it. Mandla does not pay, does not confirm anything on the phone, asks for a full statement and any record of the 2022 call in writing, and gets advice on whether to raise prescription outright or wait until the later date has clearly passed. The figures are illustrative, but the lesson is that one careless sentence can move the date by years.

Documents to gather

• Bank statements from every account you held, covering at least the year around your last payment.
• The original credit agreement, if you can find it, which shows when the account started.
• Every letter, email, SMS and WhatsApp from the creditor and from any collection agency, including anything you sent them.
• Your credit report from at least two registered bureaus.
• Any acknowledgement of debt or payment arrangement you signed, for any account, since collectors sometimes bundle several debts into one document.
• Proof of any period you lived outside South Africa.

Common mistakes that cost you the prescription defence

Making a "goodwill" payment. Before the three years are up, any payment restarts them. Collectors know this, which is why a small settlement offer often arrives just before the period runs out. Once the three years are up, a payment does not restart the clock, but you cannot reclaim it, and a collector may argue that it shows you gave up the defence.

Confirming the debt on the phone. "Yes, that was my account" said to a recorded line can be argued to be an acknowledgement. Confirm your identity only, and move everything to writing.

Applying for debt review with the old debt listed. Including a debt in a debt review application is an acknowledgement. If a debt has already prescribed, it should not be in the application.

Signing a settlement to get a listing removed. The listing may come off, but the signature admits the debt. If the three years were still running, they start again. If they had already run, the collector will argue that the signed settlement is a new agreement, or a giving up of the prescription defence, that it can enforce. For a credit agreement covered by the National Credit Act, section 126B prohibits re-activating a prescribed debt where the consumer raises prescription or would reasonably have raised it had they known about it, which is a strong answer, but the courts have not yet settled exactly how far it reaches.

Counting from the wrong date. The clock runs from when the debt became due or was last acknowledged, not from when the account was opened or when the collector last called.

Your rights and the creditor's rights

You are entitled to a full statement of account, to raise prescription at any point, to have collection stop once you have raised it, and to dispute a bureau listing that no longer reflects the true position. If you are sued, you are entitled to plead prescription as a complete defence.

The creditor is entitled to prove that the period has not run, whether by producing a payment, an acknowledgement or a return of service. It may ask you to pay voluntarily, since a prescribed debt still exists even though it cannot be enforced. It is not entitled to sell the debt once prescribed, to keep collecting after you have raised prescription, or to obtain judgment where you have pleaded prescription and the dates support you.

What to do once you believe it has prescribed

1. Do not pay anything. Not a settlement, not a token payment, not a "goodwill gesture". A payment does not revive a debt that has truly prescribed, but you cannot get the money back, a collector may argue that it shows you gave up the defence, and if your dates turn out to be wrong, the payment restarts the three years.
2. Do not sign anything that admits the debt.
3. Write to the collector, by email, saying that you raise prescription in terms of the Prescription Act 68 of 1969, that the last payment was made on a specific date, and that you require them to stop collection. Keep the email.
4. Check your credit report and dispute any listing that should no longer be there. The process is free and set out in our guide on disputing a credit listing.
5. Complain if they persist. The National Credit Act 34 of 2005 prohibits collecting on a prescribed debt where the consumer raises prescription, and prohibits selling prescribed debt. Complain to the National Credit Regulator on 0860 627 627, the Credit Ombud, which now forms part of the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa, or the Council for Debt Collectors.

If you receive a summons on an old debt

Do not ignore it. If you do nothing, default judgment can be granted even on a debt that had prescribed, because the court will not raise prescription on its own. Prescription is a defence you must plead, within the time limits set out in the summons.

Get help quickly. Legal Aid South Africa can be reached on 0800 110 110 and our legal aid page explains who qualifies. University law clinics and, for smaller amounts, the Small Claims Court, which deals with claims up to R30 000 without an attorney, are also worth knowing about.

If you cannot afford an attorney

The check itself costs nothing: your credit reports are free once a year, your bank can supply statements, and the clerk of the civil court will let you search for judgments against your ID number. Raising prescription against a collector needs only an email from you. If the collector persists, the National Credit Regulator, the Credit Ombud and the Council for Debt Collectors are all free. An attorney becomes important only if a summons arrives and prescription must be pleaded formally, and at that point Legal Aid South Africa and university law clinics are the free routes.

For a fuller explanation of what prescription actually does once it has happened, see what happens when a debt prescribes.