2019-11-01 People South Africa

LIFESTYLE

BYROBERTCLUNIE

SMALL BUSINESS

BY VA N ESSA PA PAS

MONEY TALK$

KEEP your eyes on

the enterprise.

HAVEa smallbusinessyou’dlikeus tofeature?Contact

Robert [email protected] and fi ll us in on

your entrepreneurial venture.

LowOnCreditCardsAndOther

CreditAccounts:Highoutstandingdebt

can aff ectyour abilityto repay credit. Only

applyfor andopennew credit accounts as

andwhenneeded.Don’topenaccounts

just for thesake ofit.Rather pay off debt

thansimplymove itaround.

ProtectExistingCredit:Ifyour credit

history isunhealthybutyou sti llhave credit

orretail accounts,sett lethoseyou can but

don’tclosethementi rely. Remember,you

needcredit to get credit andthelength of

your loanperiodcan work inyour favour.

Theoldertheloan,thebett er.

IfYouFindYouHaveAnUnhealthy

CreditProfile, InvestigateThe

ReasonsListed:Abigpartof

improvingyour credit profi leis

determiningwhat caused itto be

unhealthyinthefirst place.Was

itonedramati cincident, like a

foreclosureorbankruptcy?Orwas

theproblem aseriesofsmaller

things,like late andmissedpayments

that went onfor aperiodoftime?

Importantinformati onthat you

shouldtake note ofonyour credit

report includesthefollowing:isall

personal informati onupto date,

includingyour address, contact

details, etc? Have any accounts been

openedfraudulentlyinyour name?

Are there any enquiriesrefl ecting

onyour credit report that have been

madeby credit providersyou have no

relati onshipwith?Are there any accounts

that you have closedthat sti llrefl ect

asopenonyour report? Are there any

accounts that are sti llopen,butrefl ectas

closedonyour report?

Ifyou are listed negati vely onthecredit

bureau you dohave certain rights, andcan

challengetheinformati onifyou believe it

isincorrect.

Contact thebureau inquesti on.

Ifyou are notsati sfi edwiththefindings

you can call thecredit ombudsmanon

0861662837.

Ifyou are sti llunsati sfi edyou can lodge a

complaintto theNati onalCredit Regulator

(NCR)by calling 0860627627.

EventuallyApplyForNewCredit:

Badlymanaged credit may have cost you

allyour credit cards. Onceyour credit

rati nghasimproved,you may consider

getti ng one or two new cards.

IT’S never too late

to begin working

towards an improved

credit profile.

HEYmayhaveoodlesofcashto

burnbutironicallytheircredit

ati ngisat rock bottom.Celebs like

SherylSwoopes,Sinbad,Lorenzo

Lamas,Stephen Baldwin,MichaelVick,

Mike Tyson, MarionJonesandeven Donald

Trump allhave low credit scores. Countless

SouthAfricanshavethesameproblemand

don’tknow where to start whenitcomes to

improvingtheircredit profi le.

NeilThompson,headofProduct And

CustomerValue Propositi onat African Bank

says many SouthAfricans

are surprisinglyunaware of

theimportanceofagood

credit profi le,ordon’teven

know what acredit profi le

is––or, ifthey do, seldom

checkit.

“Itallstarts with

informati onfrom the

credit bureaux. The

organisati onsrecord all

credit applicati ons,credit

agreements,payment

history andpayment

behaviour,aswell asother

consumercredit related

informati on,” says Neil.

“Your informati on–both

positive andnegati ve –isstored by the

various bureaux. Importantly,to get good

credit it’s bett erto have credit. Ifyou default

onpaymentsyour credit profi leisaff ected.

Whileadverse legal informati oniscleared as

soonastheaccount issett led,thenegati ve

repaymenthistory, however, remains for a

couple years.”

HERE ARE NEIL’S TOP TIPS TO

IMPROVEYOUR CREDITPROFILE:

DoYourOwnCreditCheck:Thiscan

bedonefree ofcharge every 12months

through oneofseveral credit bureaux such

asTransUnion(0861482482),Experian

(0861105665),XpertDecisionSystems

(0861127334)andCompuscan

(0861514131).

KeepOutstanding

Balances Relatively

Neil Thompson

N

HLAKANIPHO

SHANGEis a

young, motivated

entrepreneur

andownerofanout-of-

homemediaandmarketi ng

companycalled AD.IT

Solutions.Withonlya

littleover five years asan

entrepreneur,hiscompany

hasseensignificant growth

andrecogniti onunder

hisleadership.To date, hehasworked with

someofthebiggest brands intheworld such

asToyota, Nando’s andMcDonald’s,to namea

few. Hisentrepreneurialjourney dates backto

hishighschoolyears where hecame first place

inIthalaBank’s MayibuyeYouth inBusiness

2006.In2015,hewas namedRaizcorp’sMost

ResourcefulEntrepreneur.Nhlakaniphohasbeen

areoccurringjudge for Engen Pitch andPolish, a

workshopandcompeti tion(inwhichhehimself

madeitto thenati onalTop 7in2013)that arms

hopeful entrepreneurswiththeskillsnecessaryto

pitch theirbusinessideasto potenti alinvestors.

AD.IT Solutionsisalsonow asupplierto Raizcorp

andEngen Pitch &Polish. Despite nothaving an

undergraddegree, hisdeterminationhasseenhim

obtain apostgrad advanceddiplomainBusiness

Project Managementfrom theUniversityofCape

Town where heisalsocurrently studying towards

anMBA.

WHATDOTHEYDO?

OUTDOORmediaandmarketi ngsuchas

billboards,activati onsandmall marketi ng

management.

WHEREARETHEYBASED?

DURBANandJohannesburg.

WHOBENEFITS?

BUSINESSESthat are targeti ng consumers in the

LSM4–7bracket.

CONTACTDETAILS:

Phone:(031)836-

E-mail: nshange@aditsoluti ons.co.za

AD.IT Solutions

GO

TO

PEOPLEMAGAZINE.CO.ZA

FOR

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