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Debt Collector

Debt Collector CV example and template (South Africa)

Updated November 2026 · Written for South African employers

Debt collectors phone, write to and sometimes visit people and businesses who are behind on their payments, and agree a realistic way for them to pay. Collection agencies, some with call centres of hundreds of agents in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town, hire the most collectors, followed by attorneys' collection departments, the credit departments of banks, furniture and clothing retailers and cellphone networks, municipalities collecting rates and services arrears, and property managers. Under the Debt Collectors Act 114 of 1998, anyone who collects someone else's debts for a fee, including the agents who do the collecting, must be registered with the Council for Debt Collectors (CFDC). Attorneys and their staff are exempt, and a business collecting its own accounts is not a "debt collector" under the Act. A collections manager reading your CV checks your registration first, then your results against target, the kind of accounts you have worked and whether you collect within the law.

The example below is for a senior collector with more than eight years' experience who moved from inbound calls at a contact centre, to field and phone collections for a furniture retailer, to an agency collecting bank personal loans and credit cards. Use the words managers use: right-party contacts (RPCs, calls where you reach the actual debtor and confirm who they are), promises to pay (PTPs, payment arrangements the debtor agrees to) and skip tracing (finding debtors whose contact details no longer work). If you are new and come from a call centre, retail or sales, show your call targets, negotiation and any credit work, and get registered with the CFDC as soon as an agency offers you a job.

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Debt Collector CV example

Lungelo Tshabalala

CFDC-registered Senior Collector with 8 years in bank, retail and field collections

072 555 0164 · lungelo.tshabalala@example.co.za · Roodepoort, Gauteng

Profile

CFDC-registered senior collector with eight years in collections, now working a book of about 1,200 unsecured bank accounts at a Randburg collection agency. Collects an average of R415,000 a month against a R380,000 target, with about 70% of promises to pay kept. Skilled in predictive dialler calling, skip tracing on TransUnion and XDS, DebiCheck arrangements and preparing accounts for handover to attorneys. Works strictly within the CFDC Code of Conduct, the National Credit Act and POPIA, and speaks isiZulu, Sesotho and English.

Work experience

Senior Collections Agent

Kopano Recoveries (Pty) Ltd, Randburg | Apr 2022 – Present

Work about 1,200 unsecured personal loan and credit card accounts for two bank clients on a predictive dialler
Collect an average of R415,000 a month against a R380,000 target, with about 70% of PTPs kept
Trace about 60 accounts a month through TransUnion and XDS
Load DebiCheck mandates and send written confirmation of every arrangement within 24 hours
Flag debt review and possibly prescribed accounts and prepare handover files for attorneys
Average 96% on monthly quality and compliance audits and coach new collectors

Credit Collector (field and telephone)

Highveld Furnishers, Krugersdorp | Jun 2019 – Mar 2022

Collected arrears on about 700 furniture credit accounts for three stores by phone and home visits
Explained instalment plans and acknowledgements of debt clearly before customers signed
Arranged the return of goods with customers who could no longer pay, following company procedure
Reduced accounts more than 90 days in arrears at the three stores by about a quarter in two years

Inbound Collections Agent

Westgate Contact Centre Solutions, Roodepoort | Feb 2018 – May 2019

Answered about 90 calls a day from cellphone contract customers in early arrears
Took payments over the phone and set up short-term payment arrangements
Logged every call and outcome accurately on the client's system

Education

National Senior Certificate (Matric)

Florida Park High School, 2017, NQF level 4

Subjects: English Home Language, isiZulu First Additional Language, Mathematical Literacy, Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, Life Orientation

Skills

CFDC registration and Code of Conduct
Predictive dialler collections
Right-party verification
PTP and settlement negotiation
DebiCheck arrangements
Skip tracing on TransUnion and XDS
National Credit Act and POPIA
Field collections
Attorney handover files

Certificates

Certificate of registration as a debt collector, Council for Debt Collectors (CFDC), 2019
National Credit Act, POPIA and collections compliance training, Kopano Recoveries (in-house), 2024
Negotiation skills short course, Accredited training provider, 2021

Achievements

Top collector on the bank unsecured team for six months of 2025
No upheld complaints or compliance warnings in eight years of collecting

Personal details

Driver’s licence:: Code B (Code 8)
Own transport:: Yes
Nationality:: South African
Languages:: isiZulu (Home language), English (Fluent), Sesotho (Fluent), Afrikaans (Basic)
Notice period:: One month
Availability:: Full-time, including Saturday shifts within legal calling hours

References

Natasha Booysen

Collections Team Leader, Kopano Recoveries (Pty) Ltd

011 555 0193

Sizwe Nkabinde

Credit Manager, Highveld Furnishers

011 555 0127

Debt Collector CV summary you can copy

Change the details so they are true for you.

CFDC-registered senior collector with eight years in collections, now working a book of about 1,200 unsecured bank accounts at a Randburg collection agency. Collects an average of R415,000 a month against a R380,000 target, with about 70% of promises to pay kept. Skilled in predictive dialler calling, skip tracing on TransUnion and XDS, DebiCheck arrangements and preparing accounts for handover to attorneys. Works strictly within the CFDC Code of Conduct, the National Credit Act and POPIA, and speaks isiZulu, Sesotho and English.

Skills to list on your Debt Collector CV

Registered with the Council for Debt Collectors and working to its Code of Conduct
Outbound and inbound collections on a predictive dialler, about 200 calls a day
Confirming the right party with security questions before discussing any account, in line with POPIA
Negotiating promises to pay, instalment plans and settlement discounts within the client's mandate
Loading DebiCheck debit orders, which the debtor approves with their own bank, for agreed arrangements
Following up broken arrangements within 48 hours
Skip tracing with credit bureau tools such as TransUnion and XDS, and other lawful sources
Knowing the National Credit Act steps, including section 129 notices, debt review and prescribed debt
Field collections, including home and business visits and explaining an acknowledgement of debt before it is signed
Preparing complete handover files for attorneys when legal action is needed
Writing accurate call notes and updating accounts on the collection system
Handling disputes, complaints and requests for a free settlement statement
Meeting daily and monthly targets for RPCs, PTPs and rand collected

Duties written as strong bullet points

Worked a book of about 1,200 unsecured personal loan and credit card accounts for two bank clients, making about 200 dialler calls a day
Collected an average of R415,000 a month against a target of R380,000 over the last 12 months
Kept about 70% of promises to pay honoured by sending written confirmation and calling before each due date
Confirmed identity with three security questions on every call and never discussed a debt with family, neighbours or colleagues
Traced about 60 accounts a month with no working contact details through TransUnion and XDS, reaching about a third of them
Loaded a DebiCheck mandate for every instalment arrangement and sent written confirmation within 24 hours
Flagged accounts under debt review straight away, stopped collection and passed them to the debt review team
Referred accounts that might have prescribed, with no payment or acknowledgement for about three years, to compliance before any contact
Prepared handover files for attorneys only after a section 129 notice was delivered and at least 10 business days had passed
Scored an average of 96% on monthly quality and compliance call audits and coached five new collectors through their first month

Tips for a stronger Debt Collector CV

Put your CFDC registration at the top

Write "Registered with the Council for Debt Collectors" in your headline or right under your contact details, with the year you registered. Agencies may only let registered staff collect, so a manager who cannot see it may move on to the next CV. If you are not registered yet, say that you will register as soon as you are hired.

Give your results in collections language

Managers measure rand collected against target, RPCs a day, PTPs made and the percentage of PTPs kept. "Collected R415,000 a month against a R380,000 target, with 70% of PTPs kept" says far more than "met targets". Use your real average, because the agency can check it with your references.

Describe the kind of book you worked

Collections differ a lot. Say whether your accounts were early-stage (one or two payments missed) or late-stage and pre-legal, secured (such as vehicle finance) or unsecured (personal loans, credit cards, store cards), and which industry the clients were in, such as banking, retail, telecoms or municipal rates. Agencies match collectors to books.

Show that you collect within the law

One complaint to the CFDC can cost an agency a client. Mention your quality audit scores and that you follow the Code of Conduct, the National Credit Act and POPIA, for example by verifying the debtor, respecting debt review and never calling on a Sunday or after 21:00. This shows you get results without risk.

Name the systems you use

List the dialler, collection system and trace tools you know, such as predictive and preview diallers, TransUnion or XDS trace, DebiCheck and WhatsApp or SMS payment links. An agency running the same tools will need to train you less.

Questions people ask

Do I need to register with the Council for Debt Collectors?

If you collect debts on behalf of someone else for a fee, or work as a collecting agent for an agency or as an agent of an attorney, yes. Section 8 of the Debt Collectors Act makes it an offence to act as a debt collector without registration. Attorneys and their employees are exempt, and staff who collect a company's own accounts, such as a bank's in-house collections team, are not debt collectors under the Act. You apply on the CFDC website and pay an application fee and annual fees. A conviction in the past 10 years for an offence involving violence, dishonesty, extortion or intimidation, or being an unrehabilitated insolvent, can stop you from being registered.

What may a debt collector not do?

The CFDC Code of Conduct and the Act say a collector may not call or visit to demand payment on a Sunday or between 21:00 and 06:00 on any other day, unless the debtor asks for it. A collector may not threaten or use force, use abusive language, pretend to be a police officer, sheriff or court official, send letters that look like court documents, or threaten legal action that is not intended. A collector may not contact the debtor's employer before judgment to put pressure on them, or tell family, friends or neighbours about the debt unless they are sureties. Every demand must give the creditor's name and the balance, and a debtor may ask for a free settlement statement once every six months.

What is a section 129 notice?

Under section 129 of the National Credit Act, a credit provider must send a consumer in default a written notice before going to court. It suggests the consumer contact a debt counsellor, an ombud, an alternative dispute resolution agent or a consumer court to agree a plan to bring payments up to date. It must be delivered by registered mail or to an adult at the address the consumer chose. Under section 130, court action may only start once the consumer has been in default for at least 20 business days and at least 10 business days have passed since the notice was delivered.

What are RPCs, PTPs and skip tracing?

A right-party contact (RPC) is a call where you reach the actual debtor and confirm their identity before you discuss the account. A promise to pay (PTP) is a payment arrangement the debtor agrees to, with an amount and date. Skip tracing means finding a debtor who has moved or changed numbers, using credit bureau trace tools and other lawful sources. Agencies count all three every day.

Can I collect a very old debt?

Most ordinary debts prescribe (expire) after three years under the Prescription Act, counted from when the debt became due and starting again if the debtor pays or acknowledges the debt. For debts under credit agreements covered by the National Credit Act, section 126B says no one may sell a prescribed debt or keep collecting or reactivate it. Collectors should flag old accounts for checking instead of pressuring the debtor to pay.

What happens when a debtor is under debt review?

Debt review is a process under section 86 of the National Credit Act where an over-indebted consumer asks a registered debt counsellor to restructure their debts into one affordable payment plan. While it is in progress the credit provider generally may not take legal action on the account, so collectors stop normal collection, note the debt counsellor's details and pass the account to the team that deals with debt review.