SOUTH Africans are spendthrifts – so much so that the government has legislated the National Credit Act to stop them from borrowing too much money.

So how do the person in the street resolve the problem of debt, especially if that person recognises the problem but doesn’t want to go the legal route?

And what about organisations that realise that productivity is suffering because of lowered morale brought about by their workers’ overwhelming personal debt?

These were the questions that spurred Southern Cape based ex-banker George Bertram and his business partners Fahdiel Manuel and Loot Steyn to launch debtSAVVY, a company that offers financial management courses. The company was started in 2002.

Bertram says debtSAVVY, which has recently received Seta accreditation, has taken the unusual step of approaching consumers through their employers.

Instead of offering it one-on-one to people in the street, they have taken it to groups of workers in large corporations - groups like the laundry staff at Fancourt Hotel and Country Club.

He says it is this approach which sets them apart from other businesses offering debt management training.

Betram, with 22 years of experience of credit and loans, explains: “We originally thought we’d take the course to workers, but when we went into the bigger companies, we found that that even some of the managers were struggling with court orders (to settle debt or claims) which places an additional financial burden on companies.”

“We found that debt, which is currently more than 70% of disposable income, is affecting every facet of people’s lives,” he says.

He says that managing debt – getting yourself out of it, understanding the difference between good and bad debt and knowing how to use it to your advantage – is something that very few people understand.

According to Bertram debtSAVVY courses show participants:

• how to identify their spending habits

• how to clarify their debt profiles

• to find ways of spreading their debt loads

• how to address the problem of repaying their debt

He says participants are also encouraged to ‘pay themselves a salary” and to reward themselves responsibly.

He says people like labourers and laundry workers have turned their situations around and, instead of struggling under mountains of debt, are now beginning to save and invest for the future.

Bertram says they have been presenting debtSAVVY courses to worker groups in hotels, factories and government organisations in the Southern Cape.

He says the debtSAVVY employs eight people and facilitators on a contract basis. They have also now begun to train facilitators to help roll out the concept across the region and, eventually, across the country.

Contact Bertram at debtSAVVY on 044 873 2167