Free, no-obligation assessment from an NCR-registered debt counsellor. Check if you qualify →

Home › Guides

Does debt review affect your credit score?

Last updated 13 November 2026 · General information, not legal or financial advice

After you have settled all your debts and your debt advisor has applied for and received your release certificate, he has seven days to file it with credit agencies so that they can delete your records. As soon as the debt review process is complete, a debt advisor issues an approval certificate. A good credit score can also affect how much you pay for insurance and whether a utility company requires little or no deposit before taking out a service for you.

Does the debt check affect your credit rating?

Debt relief (or debt settlement) is a program offered by external debt relief companies to borrowers who are struggling to make debt payments. In the best case scenario, negotiate with your creditor in advance for the account to be reported as fully paid (even if that is not the case). For you, debt settlement has an effect on your credit report, but you can use it to solve and rebuild things. For example, if you have a car loan, a mortgage, and three credit cards and one of them is more than 90 days past due, don’t try to pay off that debt by delaying on the other obligations.

What happens after the debt check is removed?

Debt advice is a legal and regulated process and can therefore only be officially concluded through legal proceedings, just like any other legal proceedings. Before you understand what happens after the debt check, it is essential to understand what is happening during the process. Give it a month after you’ve received your clearance certificate to see if credit bureaus have deleted the Debt Advice flag from your profile. In theory, you can request a refund one week after the Clearance Certificate, also known as Form 19, is issued.

References:

Want to know your options? Answer a few questions and an NCR-registered debt counsellor will contact you. Free, no obligation. Check if you qualify →

Related guides

Check if you qualify (free)