FAQ's
GENERAL
BC Funding Solutions raises capital from private individuals, institutions, corporate entities and trusts to facilitate much-needed funding to Community Schemes, predominantly for underlying levy debtor problems or maintenance and capital projects. Our core focus is to provide and facilitate a sustainable value-added solution that will benefit our clients, as well as the unit owners of the Community Schemes, to ultimately ensure financial stability and protect the unit owner’s value of their investment in their property.
See our about us page for more information.
BC Funding Solutions performs the role of facilitator between the Community Schemes requiring loan funding, and you, the lender, willing to lend funds to, or in respect of, these Community Schemes.
The origination process follows defined lending criteria and is ultimately supported by legislation and contract. Once you, as the lender, are satisfied with the loan and have signed the legal documentation, you deposit your funds into an independent cash custody account administered by GAEL Fund Services (Pty) Ltd.
Please see our solutions page for more information about the solutions offered to private and institutional clients.
Community Schemes are defined as:
- Sectional Title Development Schemes;
- Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs);
- Property Owners’ Associations;
- Share Block Companies;
- Housing Schemes for Retired Persons; and
- Housing Cooperatives.
BC Funding Solutions only lends to Sectional Title Bodies Corporate (the controlling body of a Sectional Title Development Schemes) or HOAs.
When some unit owners do not pay their levy contributions timeously and/or there are defaulting levy debtors, all unit owners in the Community Scheme are put at risk as the Community Scheme may not be able to continue funding essential services or performing its primary obligations, such as:
- Common property municipal charges (water, electricity, effluent and refuse);
- Critical running costs (for example, lift maintenance or security); and
- General upkeep (lighting, exterior maintenance, and painting, gardens, etc.).
It is at this time that a Community Scheme should consider taking up levy funding with BC Funding Solutions.
Additionally, the Community Scheme may require upfront cash for major capital projects or services and cannot raise this immediately from its members or does not have this in reserve. A special levy could be raised to gain the funds necessary for the project, but this puts undue financial pressure on unit owners. The Community Scheme can borrow the funds required and allow unit owners to repay over a set period of time.
There are four key benefits to Community Schemes namely time, action, preserving and guaranteeing. For more information on Community Scheme borrowing, please see our sustainability page.
- Banks generally require sureties, and the executive committee of a Community Scheme (trustees or directors) are usually not willing to personally sign surety on behalf of their Community Scheme (effectively, they are signing surety for their co-owners and no executive committee member will be willing to take this onus upon themselves);
- Banks sometimes consider lending to a Community Scheme to be a conflict of interest in credit, if they are already funding both the underlying sectional title mortgage bonds as well.
Yes, BC Funding Solutions is a registered credit provider. Our registration number is NCRCP 11132.
Yes, there is. Please refer to http://www.bcfundingsolutions.co.za/ and thereafter navigate to the login buttons. Here you can access your onboarding documents, Sale of Claims agreements, as well as details of the Community Schemes your funds have been deployed into.
Should a client want to nominate a beneficiary/ies for their Sale Claims, this must be done in the client’s personal capacity by means of the client’s Last Will and Testament. It is to be noted that the onus is on the client to ensure that their Last Will and Testament is up to date. In the event of death, BC Funding Solutions will only be able to take instruction from a lawfully appointed executor/executrix to the deceased estate.
Clients can monitor their loan asset via a monthly statement and SMS.
FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE ACT (FICA)
The Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (“FICA”) has the objective to objective to regulate South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counter- terrorism financing programs.
In terms of Guidance Note 3A, published by the Financial Intelligence Centre:
“Apart from criminalising the activities constituting money laundering, South African law also contains a number of control measures aimed at facilitating the detection and investigation of money laundering. These control measures, as contained in the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (the “FIC Act”), are based on three basic principles of money laundering detection and investigation, i.e., that:
- intermediaries in the financial system must know with whom they are doing business;
- the paper trail of transactions through the financial system must be preserved;
- possible money laundering transactions must be brought to the attention of investigating authorities.
The control measures introduced by the FIC Act include requirements for institutions to establish and verify the identities of their clients, to keep certain records, to report certain information and to implement measures that will assist them in complying with the FIC Act. The majority of obligations under the FIC Act apply to “accountable institutions”. These are institutions that fall within any one of the categories of institutions listed in Schedule 1 to the FIC Act.”
The Financial Intelligence Centre (“FIC”) is the agency responsible for the collection, analysis and disclosure of information to assist in the detection, prevention and deterrence of money laundering in South Africa. The FIC is also empowered to provide guidance in respect of compliance with FICA.
Yes, BC Funding Solutions became an accountable institution in December 2023, as defined by section 1 of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA).
Some of the core responsibilities of BC Funding Solutions are as follows (not exhaustive):
- Client Identification and Verification:
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- Duty to identify and verify both new and existing clients.
- Record Keeping:
- Maintain records of client identities, potential clients, and transactions.
- Retention and Amendment of Records:
- Ensure the proper retention and amendment of records in accordance with the FICA Act.
- Reporting Obligations:
- Report large or suspicious transactions to the Financial Intelligence Centre as required by the FIC Act.
- Internal Rules and Training:
- Formulate and implement internal rules consistent with FICA obligations.
- Offer compulsory FIC Act training to employees.
- Compliance Monitoring:
- Appoint a responsible person as a compliance officer to monitor business compliance.
Yes, there are two types of penalties for non-compliance with FICA, namely:
- Administrative sanction, which includes:
- a caution not to repeat the conduct which led to the non-compliance referred to in subsection (1);
- a reprimand;
- a directive to take remedial action or to make specific arrangements;
- the restriction or suspension of certain specified business activities; OR
- a financial penalty not exceeding R10 million in respect of natural persons and R50 million in respect of any legal person.
- Criminal sanction, which includes:
- a maximum penalty of 15 years or a fine not exceeding R100 million; or
- a maximum sentence of five years or a fine not exceeding R10 million for certain lesser offences.
FICA makes use of the Know Your Client (“KYC”) business principle to encourage relevant companies to “establish and verify the identity of their customers/clients before or during the time they do business.” The KYC principle plays a very important role in the compliance with the FICA requirements and responsibilities, amongst other it provides for controls which usually include the:
- collection and verification of identity documentation;
- screening against warning lists;
- client risk assessment; and
- investigations into client’s financial transactions.
PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ACT (POPIA)
POPIA is the abbreviation used when referring to the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. The purpose of POPIA is to promote the protection of personal information processed by public and private bodies and commenced on the 1 st of July 2020.
Personal information means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person and where it is applicable, identifiable, existing juristic person, including all information as defined in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013.
Please see the BC Funding Solutions privacy policy.
You can contact our dedicated expert personnel either via the platform provided on our contact us page or send an email to info@bcfundingsolutions.co.za.