Prescription dispute letter to a debt collector

Prescription is a defence you have to raise. Nobody raises it for you, and a collector will keep phoning until you say the words in writing. This letter is how you say them, once, in a form you can produce again later.

What this document does and when to use it

The letter tells a debt collector three things at once. That you do not admit owing the money. That the debt has prescribed under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. And that you now require collection to stop and any credit listing to be removed. It also creates a dated record that you raised prescription, which matters because everything the collector does afterwards is done knowing your position.

Use it when a collector, or an attorney acting for one, is chasing an old account and you are satisfied that three clear years have passed since the debt became due with no payment, no acknowledgement from you, and no summons ever served. Work through how to check if a debt has prescribed and run your dates through the prescription checker first. Do not send this letter on a hunch.

Do not send it at all if a court judgment was granted against you. Your credit report will show a judgment, and a judgment debt runs for far longer.

Before you send it: get these facts straight

You need three dates and one negative. The date the debt became due, which is normally the date the account fell into arrears rather than the date you opened it. The date of your last payment. The date of any acknowledgement, which includes a signed arrangement, a written promise to pay, or a debit order you allowed to run. And confirmation that no summons was ever served on you.

Your free annual credit report from each registered bureau is the usual starting point, because it shows the account, the date of default, the status, and whether a judgment exists. Bank statements cover the payments.

Now the part people get wrong, so read it twice. Do not attach proof of anything. You are raising a defence, not proving a case. The moment you send a payment history you invite an argument about individual entries, and the burden of showing the debt is still alive is not yours to carry.

And do not pay. Not a settlement, not a goodwill R100, not a first instalment "to show good faith". If your dates are even slightly wrong and the three years had not quite run, a payment is an acknowledgement that restarts them under the Prescription Act 68 of 1969. If they had run, the payment cannot be reclaimed and the collector will argue that you gave up the defence. Generous settlement offers arriving on old accounts are not always generosity. Keep everything in writing, and confirm nothing on the telephone beyond who you are.

Walking through the letter, paragraph by paragraph

The subject block names the dispute, the collector's own reference, the account number and the original credit provider. Collectors handle files by reference number, and a letter without one gets filed nowhere.

Paragraph 1 anchors the letter to a specific communication. "I refer to your [LETTER / EMAIL / SMS / TELEPHONE CALL] dated [DATE]" and the amount demanded.

Paragraph 2 is your protection. "I do not admit that I am liable for this amount or any part of it. Nothing in this letter is to be read as an acknowledgement of the debt." Never delete this. Without it, a letter discussing the account in detail can be read as accepting that it is yours.

Paragraph 3 does the actual work and should not be softened. It states the date the debt became due, that more than three years have passed, that you have made no payment and given no acknowledgement since a stated date, and that no summons has ever been served. Four facts, flatly, each of them something the collector must disprove to continue.

Paragraph 4 raises the defence in terms. "I raise prescription in terms of the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 as a complete defence to this claim." One sentence, and it is the sentence the whole letter exists to deliver.

Paragraph 5 sets out what you want, in four numbered requirements: that collection stops entirely, including contact with your employer or family; that they confirm in writing within your stated period; that they arrange removal of any adverse listing from every bureau; and that they tell you whether the debt has been ceded or sold, to whom, and when. That last one matters more than it looks, because old debt books get sold on and you want the trail before the next collector phones.

Paragraph 6 puts the burden where it belongs. If they say the debt has not prescribed, they must produce a full statement showing every payment and its date, any document they rely on as your acknowledgement, and, if they claim a summons was served, the case number, the court and the sheriff's return of service. Most files cannot produce this, which is why the paragraph so often ends the matter.

Paragraph 7 names the consequences of ignoring you. The National Credit Act 34 of 2005 prohibits the sale of a prescribed debt and continued collection once the consumer has raised prescription. It also flags a report to the National Credit Regulator and, where relevant, the Council for Debt Collectors established under the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998.

Paragraph 8 is one line, aimed at the reader rather than the law. "I have kept a copy of this letter and proof of its delivery."

A worked example

This example is illustrative only.

Lerato Mahlangu gets an SMS demanding R9 200 on a clothing account she last paid in 2019. Her free credit report shows the account, a date of default in early 2019, a status of "handed over", and no judgment. Her bank statements confirm her last payment was in March 2019. She has never been served with anything.

Her paragraph 1 refers to the SMS and its date. Paragraph 3 says the debt became due in March 2019, that more than three years have passed, that she has made no payment and given no acknowledgement since then, and that no summons has been served on her. Paragraph 5 gives the collector 14 days to confirm the file is closed and the listing removed, and asks whether the account has been ceded. She emails the letter and posts a registered copy.

She does not attach her bank statements, and she does not mention that she could probably afford R500 a month. She starts a log of every call that follows.

The mistakes that make a letter like this useless

Any payment at all. A single instalment cannot be reclaimed. If your dates are wrong and the three years had not quite run, it hands the collector three fresh years. If they had run, it hands the collector the argument that you gave up the defence. This is the mistake that cannot be undone.

Discussing an arrangement on the phone. A recorded call in which you agree to pay something can be produced as an acknowledgement. Take the matter into writing and keep it there.

Softening paragraph 3. "I believe this may have prescribed" is not raising a defence. State the dates as facts or do not send the letter.

Attaching proof. It shifts the conversation onto ground you do not need to defend.

Sending it when a judgment exists. Check the credit report first. A judgment changes the whole picture.

Ignoring a summons because you sent this letter. The letter binds nobody. A court will not raise prescription for you, and default judgment can be granted on a debt that had prescribed.

How to deliver it and prove you did

Email is usually the best channel with collectors. It is instant, it timestamps itself, and it gives you a sent copy and often an auto-acknowledgement with a reference number. Send it to the address on their correspondence and, where you have one, to a disputes or compliance address as well.

Registered post gives you a slip and a tracking number, which is the format complaint bodies are most comfortable with. Post to the address on the collector's letterhead and staple the slip to your file copy. By hand works if they have a local office: take two copies and have one signed, stamped and dated back to you.

Send it two ways. Every complaint you might later make to the National Credit Regulator, the Council for Debt Collectors or an ombud scheme starts with the question of when the collector was told. If you can prove the date, the collector's conduct after it is measurable. If you cannot, it becomes your word against a call centre note, and those disputes go nowhere.

From the day you send it, keep a log of every call, SMS, email and letter, with dates and times and the name of whoever contacted you. That log is your evidence of continued collection.

If it does not work

Complain to the National Credit Regulator on 0860 627 627. It enforces the National Credit Act 34 of 2005, which is the Act being breached by continued collection after prescription is raised. Complaining is free. Attach the letter, your proof of delivery and your call log.

Complain to the Council for Debt Collectors if the collector is a registered debt collector rather than an attorney. It was established under the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998 and deals with collector conduct. Also free. Where a credit provider or a bureau listing is involved, the National Financial Ombud Scheme South Africa, which now houses the former Credit Ombud, takes consumer complaints at no charge.

Deal with the listing separately. Raising prescription with the collector does not clear your credit record. Send a dispute to each bureau using our credit bureau dispute letter and read how to dispute a listing on your credit report.

If the harassment continues, how to stop debt collectors harassing you sets out the conduct rules. If a summons arrives, act immediately: contact Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110, a university law clinic or an attorney, and take the summons with you.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this article is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

Does sending this letter stop the collector by law?

It removes their lawful basis for continuing, but nothing physically stops a call centre. Its real value is the record it creates for the regulators.

Will the listing come off automatically?

No. The bureau holds the listing, not the collector, so dispute it with each bureau separately.

They say they will "reopen the account" if I do not settle. Should I pay?

No, and paying is the one step that would genuinely help them. Keep the threat and add it to your log.

What if the debt was sold to someone else?

Paragraph 5.4 asks for exactly that. Send the same letter to the new holder, because prescription runs from the original due date, not from the sale.

Can I just ignore the calls instead?

You can, but silence leaves the file open, the listing in place and no record that you raised the defence. The letter turns your position into evidence.