Verification methodology

01 — PurposeWhy a methodology exists

Words like verified, accredited and certified are used loosely in financial services, and a reader has no way of knowing which sense is meant. This page fixes one sense, narrowly, and publishes it before anything is issued — so that the standard cannot be quietly adjusted to fit whoever applies first.

Someone about to place capital is deciding about two things at once: an arrangement and the people behind it. The arrangement can be examined from documents. The people usually cannot, and the questions a careful reader would want answered — are they who they say they are, does a real organisation stand behind them, is anyone registered where registration is required, is there anywhere to complain — are exactly the questions a meeting is bad at answering.

02 — PrinciplesFour principles

1. Publish the criteria before the badge. A standard written after the first applicant is not a standard.
2. Record what was not checked. What a check omits is the part readers assume, so every record states it.
3. Separate money from findings. Partnership tiers and verification statuses are different systems, and no amount of the former produces the latter.
4. Date everything. A verification is a statement about a moment. Without a date and a review date it is decoration.

03 — OrganisationsWhat is checked: organisations

Legal identity

The registered name, registration number and trading names of the entity, confirmed against the companies register rather than against its own website.

Role in the process

What the organisation actually is in a transaction — platform, credit provider, administrator, issuer or adviser — stated precisely, because the role determines which rules apply to it.

Regulatory registration

Where the role requires a registration — a credit provider under the National Credit Act, a financial services provider under FAIS — the number, checked on the relevant public register and recorded with the date it was checked.

Public disclosure quality

Whether what the organisation publishes about risk, fees and the return of capital meets the Association's disclosure standards, judged against the material a member of the public would actually be shown.

Complaints route

That a member of the public can raise a complaint, that there is a named person or channel for it, and that a record of the outcome exists.

Code of conduct

A signed undertaking to the Association's code of conduct, and agreement to the publication of the verification record whatever it finds.

04 — PractitionersWhat is checked: practitioners

Identity confirmed

The person is who they say they are, and the name on the listing is the name on their identification.

Required training completed

The practitioner has completed the training covering the arrangements they present, the boundaries of the role, and what they may and may not say to a prospective lender.

Applicable assessment passed

Where the training programme sets an assessment, the practitioner has passed it. Where a programme sets none, this is recorded as not applicable rather than treated as met.

A current agreement

A signed, current agreement with a named organisation, setting out what the practitioner may do, how they are paid, and the conduct expected of them.

Standing

No open disciplinary process, and nothing known that would require a listing to be withdrawn. A statement about a record on a date, not a prediction of conduct.

A public profile

A live public profile carrying the name, location and status, so that anyone about to deal with the practitioner can confirm the listing independently.

The evidence for training, agreements and standing sits with the organisation that trains and contracts the practitioner. The Association checks that evidence against the criteria; it does not maintain a competing database, because two databases guarantee that one of them is wrong.

05 — StatusesThe statuses a record can hold

A key to the statuses that exist in this methodology. None is currently held by any organisation or practitioner — every record on this site reads Verification Pending.

06 — PresentationWhat a verified profile shows

Every record, whatever it finds, carries the same fields in the same order:

1. Legal or professional identity.
2. Role in the private-lending process.
3. What was checked.
4. What was not checked.
5. Verification date.
6. Next review date.
7. Current status.
8. Relevant regulatory registration, where the role requires one.
9. The complaints or disciplinary route.
10. The limits of what verification covers.

Where a criterion does not apply, the record says so rather than omitting the line and letting a reader assume it was met.

07 — MaintenanceReview, withdrawal and appeal

• Review. Organisation records are reviewed annually and practitioner records are reconciled quarterly. The date of the most recent review is shown on the record.
• Withdrawal. A status is withdrawn when an agreement ends, when standing changes, or when a criterion can no longer be evidenced. Withdrawal is recorded as expired or suspended rather than deleted, because a record that quietly disappears tells a reader nothing.
• Challenge. Anyone may challenge a record — a subject, a reader or a member of the public — by writing to complaints@privatelendingassociation.co.za. Where a record is wrong it is corrected; where the challenge concerns conduct rather than accuracy, it is handled under complaints and review.
• Appeal. A subject may ask for a decision to be reconsidered, in writing, with the evidence they say was missed. The appeal route and the person who hears it will be named when the governance described on governance is in place. Until then the Council takes the decision, publishes the basis and the connection behind it, and refers it for re-examination once a Reviewer is appointed.

08 — BoundariesWhat verification does not mean

The Private Lending Association of South Africa is not a regulator, government body, financial adviser, lender or product provider. It does not arrange loans, accept deposits or guarantee any private-lending arrangement.

The term used is verified rather than accredited. Accreditation implies a formal framework with its own governance, scope and appeal machinery. That does not exist yet, so the word is not used.

09 — CheckingHow to check a record yourself

1. Open the profile and read the status, the date and the list of what was not checked.
2. Take any regulatory number on the record and check it on the issuing register — the NCR register for a credit provider, the FSCA for a financial services provider.
3. Separately, ask which legal entity would receive your capital. That is a question about the arrangement, and no profile on this site answers it.
4. If anything on a record looks wrong, say so. Corrections are published, not quietly applied.

10 — QuestionsCommon questions

Has anyone been verified by the Association yet?

One organisation. ProLend was verified as an organisation on 17 September 2026 under methodology version 1.0, and its record publishes the assessment scope, the evidence reviewed, the limitations and the review date. The Association's founding members are connected to that organisation and the record says so. No practitioner has been verified; that programme opens next.

Does verification mean the Association approves a lending product?

No. Verification is a record about an organisation or a person — who they are, what role they play, what registrations they hold, what they disclose. It is not an assessment of any arrangement, product or opportunity, and the Association does not approve, endorse or rate those at all.

Does paying for a partnership tier affect verification?

No. Tiers and verification are separate systems, and the site is built so that one cannot imply the other. A partner that fails a check is recorded as failing it regardless of tier, and a tier can never be used to obtain or keep a status.

Is verification the same as being regulated?

No. The Association is not a regulator and has no statutory powers. Where a role requires a regulatory registration, verification records the number and the date it was checked, and points the reader at the public register so they can check it themselves. That register, not this site, is the authority.