Can I Get a Home Loan While Under Debt Review?

No South African bank or bond originator can lawfully grant you a new home loan while you are under debt review. Section 88(1) of the National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005, prevents a consumer under debt review from entering into any new credit agreement — a home loan is a credit agreement, so it falls squarely inside the restriction. This holds regardless of your income, your deposit size, or how many banks you approach: it is a statutory block, not a risk decision a lender is free to waive.

The restriction exists to protect consumers who are already over-indebted from taking on more debt while they work through a court- or NCR-supervised repayment plan. It applies from the day your debt counsellor issues a Form 17.2 confirming you are under debt review, and it stays in force until that status is formally lifted.

Source: National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005, Section 88(1), retrieved 2026-09-29.

Yes. Once your debt counsellor has confirmed all restructured debt is settled and the National Credit Regulator issues your clearance certificate, the Section 88(1) restriction falls away. At that point you can apply for a home loan through a bank directly, or make one application through a bond originator that submits to multiple banks on your behalf.

Clearance is a green light to apply, not a guarantee of approval. Every bank will still run its own credit check and affordability assessment under the National Credit Act, the same as for any other applicant. What they are specifically looking for after a debt review: clean payment conduct since your clearance certificate, stable income, and existing debt levels that fit comfortably inside a new bond instalment.

Section 88(1) stops the specific consumer who is under debt review from being added to a new credit agreement. If you are applying jointly and only one of you is under debt review, the other applicant is not legally barred from applying — but the practical picture is more nuanced than simply leaving one name off the paperwork.

A bank assessing a joint bond will want to understand the full household financial position, including a spouse or partner under debt review, even if only one person is named on the agreement. Community of property, existing joint debt, and affordability on a single income can all change what is actually approvable. Confirm your specific situation with a bond originator before you make an offer on a property — this is exactly the kind of case where a general answer is not a safe one to act on alone.

If you already have a home loan when you enter debt review, it can be included in the restructuring — your debt counsellor negotiates a more affordable monthly instalment across all your debts, including the bond, based on what you can genuinely afford. Including it also gives you legal protection against creditor action while you keep to the plan.

This is a materially different situation from the one covered above: restructuring debt you already owe is part of what debt review is designed to do, while Section 88(1) only blocks taking on new credit during the process. If your bond is in arrears rather than under debt review, see our bond arrears guide for the options at that earlier stage.

First Home Finance (formerly FLISP) is a once-off government subsidy paid alongside a qualifying home loan — it is not a standalone grant you can apply for without a bond. While you are under debt review there is no bond to attach it to, so the same Section 88(1) restriction applies in practice.

Once your clearance certificate is issued and you can qualify for a bond again, First Home Finance eligibility is assessed on its own income-band and purchase-price rules, independent of your debt review history. Our First Home Finance guide covers who qualifies and how the subsidy reduces the bond you need.