What happens when a debt prescribes?

When a debt prescribes, it stops being legally enforceable. The money is not magically repaid, but the creditor loses the right to force you to pay it. They cannot get judgment against you, they cannot attach your salary and they cannot lawfully keep chasing you for it.

Prescription is governed by the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. For most ordinary debt, including credit cards, store accounts, personal loans, vehicle finance, overdrafts and unpaid municipal accounts, the period is three years. Some debts run for 30 years, including mortgage bonds, judgment debts and certain debts owed to the state.

When the three years starts running

The clock starts on the date the debt becomes due, which is usually the date you should have paid and did not. In practice, for a credit agreement, that is normally the date of the last payment you made or the date the account first fell into default, whichever is later.

The three years then runs continuously unless something interrupts or delays it.

What stops the clock

Two things interrupt prescription and start the three years again from zero.

Acknowledgement of the debt. If you admit that you owe the money before the three years are up, prescription restarts. An acknowledgement made after the three years have run cannot interrupt a period that has already ended. This does not need to be formal. Making a small payment, signing an acknowledgement of debt, agreeing to a payment arrangement, or even an email saying you will settle when you can, will usually count. This is the most common reason people who thought their debt had prescribed find that it has not.

Service of summons. If the creditor issues a summons and it is properly served on you, prescription is interrupted while the case runs. If they get judgment, the debt becomes a judgment debt, which prescribes only after 30 years.

Prescription can also be delayed in certain circumstances, for example while the debtor is outside the country or while the creditor is legally prevented from suing.

A worked example

Thandi opened a store account in 2019 and stopped paying in February 2021 when she lost her job. Her last payment cleared on 10 February 2021. She heard nothing for years. In May 2024 a collection agency phoned her saying she owed R9 400 including interest and fees, and offered to "settle" for R3 000.

Counting from her last payment, three years ran out on 10 February 2024. Provided no summons was served on her in that period and she never acknowledged the debt in between, the debt prescribed before the collector called. If Thandi had paid the R3 000 in May 2024, she could not have got it back, and the collector would probably have argued that the payment showed she had given up the prescription defence on the remaining R6 400. Because a store account is a credit agreement covered by the National Credit Act, section 126B would have given her a strong answer: nobody may re-activate a prescribed credit debt where the consumer would reasonably have raised prescription had she known about it. Change the facts: if the collector had called in January 2024, a month before the three years ran out, a R3 000 payment would have restarted the three years and the collector could then have pursued the remaining R6 400 lawfully. Instead she asked for a statement of account in writing, found her old bank statements, and emailed the collector raising prescription. The figures here are illustrative, and our prescription checker walks through the same arithmetic with your dates.

What a prescribed debt means for you in practice

Three things follow once a debt has genuinely prescribed.

1. You cannot be sued successfully for it. If a creditor issues summons on a prescribed debt, prescription is a complete defence. You have to raise it though. The Prescription Act does not allow a court to take notice of prescription on its own, so if you ignore the summons and default judgment is granted, the judgment stands even though the underlying debt had prescribed.
2. Collectors may not chase you for it. The National Credit Act was amended so that a credit provider or debt collector may not collect on a prescribed debt where the consumer raises prescription, and may not sell a prescribed debt on to someone else. This closed the market in old prescribed "zombie" debt books.
3. It should not sit on your credit record forever. Credit bureaus have maximum retention periods for adverse information set by the National Credit Act regulations. Old defaults fall away over time, and a listing that is wrong or outdated can be disputed for free.

Your rights and the creditor's rights

Once the period has run, you are entitled to refuse payment, to raise prescription as a full defence if sued, to demand that collection stops, and to have any prescribed debt removed from the pool that can be sold to a collection agency. You are also entitled to a statement of account showing every payment received, which is how you prove the dates.

The creditor keeps some rights. It may still ask you to pay voluntarily, because section 10(3) of the Prescription Act treats a payment on a prescribed debt as a valid payment, even though the debt can no longer be enforced. If you choose to pay, the money is not refundable. The creditor may also test your dates: if it can prove a payment, an acknowledgement or a served summons inside the three years, prescription has not run and the debt is fully enforceable. That is why your evidence matters more than your memory.

Documents to gather

Before you write to anyone or take a call, get these together.

• Bank statements covering the months around your last payment, from every account you had at the time.
• Any letters, emails, SMSes or WhatsApp messages between you and the creditor or any collection agency, including offers you made and did not follow through on.
• Your credit report from at least two registered bureaus, so you can see the default date and any judgment.
• Any summons, letter of demand or acknowledgement of debt you ever signed, even if you think it was for a different account.
• Proof of any period you spent outside the country, because prescription can be delayed in those circumstances.

What to do if you are chased for a prescribed debt

1. Work out the date of your last payment or last written acknowledgement. Bank statements are the best evidence. Our prescription checker will help you work out the likely position.
2. Do not pay anything, not even a small amount, and do not sign an acknowledgement of debt, until you are sure of the dates. If the three years have not quite run, a single payment restarts them on the whole debt. If they have run, you cannot get the payment back, and a collector may argue that it shows you gave up the defence.
3. Write to the collector, by email so you have a record, stating that you raise prescription and asking them to stop collection and confirm in writing.
4. Check your credit report at each credit bureau. If the listing is wrong or out of date, dispute it. Our guide on disputing a listing sets out the free process.
5. If they keep calling, complain to the National Credit Regulator on 0860 627 627, or to the Credit Ombud, which now forms part of the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa. Registered debt collectors also answer to the Council for Debt Collectors.

A realistic timeline

Week 1. You receive the call or letter. You say nothing about the debt, ask for a written statement of account, and start pulling bank statements and your credit report.

Weeks 2 to 4. The statement arrives, or does not. Either way you now have your own bank records. You send the email raising prescription. Most collectors close the file at this point, although some send one or two more letters before they do.

Month 2 onwards. If the collector persists, you lodge a complaint with the National Credit Regulator or the Credit Ombud with your email trail attached. If a listing is still on your credit record, you lodge a bureau dispute. A summons at this stage is uncommon, but if one arrives, you defend it and plead prescription within the time limits on the summons.

Where people get this wrong

The most common mistake is treating the three years as running from the date the account was opened, or from the date the creditor last contacted you. Neither is right. What matters is when the debt became due and when you last acknowledged it.

The second mistake is assuming that because the last payment was more than three years ago, prescription is guaranteed. If summons was served on you at some point, even at an old address you no longer use, the clock may have been interrupted long ago and a judgment may already exist. It is worth checking your credit record for judgments before you rely on prescription.

The third mistake is confusing prescription with the debt being written off. A prescribed debt is unenforceable, not paid. If you voluntarily pay it, you cannot get the money back.

The fourth is talking too much on the phone. Confirming your ID number is harmless. Confirming that "yes, that was my account and I always meant to sort it out" can be argued to be an acknowledgement. Keep calls short and move everything to writing.

Prescription and a debt already under debt review

If a debt is included in a debt review repayment plan, you are paying it, which means you are acknowledging it. Prescription is not running on those accounts. Prescription is only relevant for old debts you have stopped paying entirely and have not acknowledged.

If you cannot afford an attorney

Raising prescription against a collector does not need an attorney. An email from you is enough, and the free regulators handle persistent collectors. The National Credit Regulator on 0860 627 627 deals with credit providers and collectors under the National Credit Act. The Credit Ombud resolves disputes at no cost. The Council for Debt Collectors acts against registered collectors who breach their code of conduct.

If you are actually served with a summons, the picture changes, because prescription has to be pleaded correctly and in time. Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 can tell you whether you qualify for representation, and our legal aid page explains the means test. University law clinics take these matters on. If the amount at stake is small, the Small Claims Court handles claims up to R30 000 without an attorney, although in practice you will more often be the defendant than the claimant on a prescribed debt.