Debt Collection Lawyer: Questions for Your First Meeting

How to use this guide

Do not use the meeting only to ask, “Do I have to pay?” A useful consultation should end with a classified matter and a written next-step instruction, not a vague promise to look into it. If a summons, judgment or enforcement notice is involved, tell the lawyer at the start and send the complete document before an ordinary appointment slot.

This page is a meeting agenda. The separate debt-collection document checklist owns the full consultation pack, while the proof checklist owns evidence preservation.

Start with the outcome you need from the meeting

Open with one sentence that states the decision you need. For example:

• “I need to know whether this is a demand, a statutory notice, a summons or post-judgment enforcement.”
• “I dispute the amount and need a safe written response.”
• “I need the next court step and verified deadline.”
• “I want to assess settlement without making an unintended admission.”
• “I think the debt may be prescribed and need the chronology reviewed before I respond.”

This helps the lawyer scope the first legal product. It does not require you to diagnose the law yourself.

Questions about the sender and claimant

Ask:

1. Who is the current claimant, and is it the original creditor or an entity said to have acquired the claim?
2. Is the firm acting as attorneys, as collection agents, or in another disclosed capacity?
3. How can I verify the practitioner and the firm independently?
4. What authority or chain of entitlement must be established if the claim has changed hands?
5. Is there a mismatch in names, identity numbers, account references or parties that must be corrected before any substantive response?

The distinction between an attorney and a registered debt collector matters. The Debt Collectors Act’s definition excludes an attorney and an attorney’s employee from the Act’s ordinary definition of “debt collector”. Legal practitioners are regulated through the Legal Practice Council. Ask the lawyer which regulator or complaint path fits the actor rather than assuming every person collecting a debt falls under the same council.

The LPC’s practitioner search can help confirm enrolment details. It does not prove that a practitioner specialises in this kind of dispute or that the claim is valid.

Questions about what allegedly created the debt

Ask the lawyer to identify the legal and factual basis of the amount:

• What agreement, invoice, court order or other obligation is relied on?
• Which terms govern interest, fees, default, cancellation and collection costs?
• Does the balance reconcile with payments, credits and reversals?
• Is the claimant relying on a cession, assignment, guarantee, suretyship or judgment?
• Does consumer-credit law apply to this transaction, or is it a different kind of debt?
• Which facts are agreed, which are disputed, and which still need proof?

Avoid collapsing these questions into “the account is wrong”. Ask the lawyer to separate principal, interest, charges, legal costs and payments so that any response can identify the disputed component precisely.

Questions about the legal stage

Put the actual paper in front of the lawyer and ask:

1. What document is this?
2. Has a court process begun?
3. Has judgment already been granted or merely threatened?
4. Was anything served, and what proof of service is relevant?
5. Does contacting the firm satisfy the required procedural response, or must something be delivered or filed elsewhere?
6. What happens next if no action is taken?

A letter of demand, a notice under section 129 of the National Credit Act, a summons and a post-judgment enforcement document do different work. Section 129 and section 130 timing applies only where the National Credit Act and those provisions govern the credit agreement and enforcement step. A lawyer should not apply that sequence to every unpaid invoice, rental dispute, damages claim or judgment debt.

Use the letter of demand and summons pages for orientation, but let the complete document and current rules drive the advice.

Questions about dates, prescription and interruption

Ask the lawyer to mark every live date on one page:

• the date the debt allegedly became due;
• the date and method of each demand or statutory notice;
• any payment, acknowledgement, arrangement or dispute;
• the service date of court process;
• the date of any judgment or enforcement notice; and
• the next action date, how it is counted, and where the action must occur.

Then ask:

• Which date is a sender-requested date and which is imposed by law or a court document?
• Is prescription potentially relevant, and which statutory period may apply?
• Could a payment, acknowledgement or judicial process have interrupted prescription?
• Is more evidence needed before any prescription position is stated?
• Does a complaint, negotiation or payment discussion stop any procedural clock? If not, what separate step protects the position?

The Prescription Act contains different periods and rules about when time begins, delay and interruption. Do not ask the lawyer to confirm that “three years have passed” without supplying the underlying chronology. The prescription glossary can help organise the issue, but it cannot decide the account.

Questions about response options

Ask for two or three lawful options, each with its purpose, risk, deadline and next decision. Depending on the facts, the options might include a neutral information request, a substantive dispute, a settlement proposal, a complaint, a notice of intention to defend, an application relating to an existing judgment, or another procedural response.

For every option, ask:

1. What does this step preserve or achieve?
2. What admission or waiver risk must be controlled?
3. What evidence should accompany it?
4. Who must receive it, by which channel, and what proof of delivery is needed?
5. What is the likely next move by the claimant?
6. What would make us change course?

Do not assume that a regulator complaint replaces a court response. Ask the lawyer to keep complaint, negotiation and formal process on separate tracks where necessary.

Questions about settlement

If payment or settlement may be sensible, ask:

• What amount and components are being compromised?
• Is the proposal “without prejudice” in the legally appropriate sense, and what communications will remain open?
• Does any proposed acknowledgement create consequences beyond the instalment plan?
• What happens on one missed payment?
• Will interest or costs continue?
• When will the account be treated as settled, and what written proof will be supplied?
• Does the arrangement deal with an existing judgment, attachment or adverse listing, if one exists?
• How will banking details be independently verified?

A lower monthly instalment is not the only term. Acceleration, consent-to-judgment wording, costs, interest, security and enforcement terms can materially change the risk.

Questions about the lawyer’s mandate and fees

Ask for the first stage in writing. It should say:

• which documents will be reviewed;
• which questions will be answered;
• whether the output is advice, a draft response, negotiation, filing or appearance;
• who will do the work and who will supervise it;
• the fee basis, VAT position and likely disbursements;
• what is excluded;
• how urgent work is priced and authorised; and
• what decision or deliverable ends the stage.

Ask whether the amount discussed is a deposit, estimate, cap or fixed fee. Confirm what happens if a summons response, counsel, a correspondent, a sheriff or a separate application becomes necessary. Do not authorise “all steps needed” unless the scope and decision rights are understood.

Ask for a one-page consultation outcome

Before the meeting ends, ask the lawyer to confirm:

If the lawyer cannot yet answer a field, record what evidence will resolve it and when the answer is due. That is a legitimate outcome; false certainty is not.

Questions if the conduct itself concerns you

Describe the conduct accurately and ask whether it is separate from the underlying debt. Preserve messages and call details, then ask:

• Is this an attorney-conduct issue for the Legal Practice Council?
• Is a non-attorney collector involved who may fall under the Council for Debt Collectors?
• Is the issue instead about a credit provider, credit bureau, debt counsellor, financial provider or possible fraud?
• What remedy does the complaint route offer?
• What court or payment deadline continues while the complaint is considered?

The LPC publishes a complaint process, and the Debt Collectors Code of Conduct regulates people within its scope. Neither route automatically proves that the balance is not owing or suspends formal proceedings.

Legal disclaimer

This is a general South African consultation agenda, not advice on a particular debt or court matter. The correct response, deadline, prescription position, regulator and settlement consequences depend on the transaction, actor, documents, service history and current law. Obtain advice on the complete papers.

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