By Mellony Ramalho, African Bank Group Executive The start of a new year is a great time to review your finances and saving habits and to check up on your credit profile. Often it is only when you apply for credit and get turned down that you...
Video: Should you use a lump sum to pay off debt?
One of the more frequent questions people ask is whether or not to use a lump sum to pay off debt. For example, you may have R100 000 sitting in a money market account earning 6%, providing an income of R500 per month. At the same time, you have a...
Can a credit card save you money?
A social media follower recently asked me how he could benefit from using a credit card. The answer is that is depends entirely on your self-discipline. If you are the personality type who may make all sorts of promises to only use it for...
As cost of living rises, so do informal loans
Annual survey confirms consumer stress but also highlights rise in funeral polices. The recent FinScope SA report, which analyses how consumers are using financial products and services, has revealed a concerning trend around credit extension. It...
What the Debt Relief Bill means to consumers
Beware the false hope behind debt relief headlines The National Credit Amendment Bill, which includes details around debt relief, was recently approved by the National Assembly, but it still has a while to go before it becomes law. The so-called...
How to protect yourself from loan scams
By Gareth Mountain, Head of Sales at Lending and Innovation Company Olico The current economic situation we’re experiencing in South Africa has created a strong appetite for credit. Often consumers need to borrow money out of desperation just to...
Are we managing our money better?
South African households appear to have a better handle on debt levels, but this could be at the expense of savings, especially for emergencies. Despite headlines about the deteriorating state of consumer finances, the latest Old Mutual Savings and...
Shopping around for credit insurance
The pricing cap on credit insurance is good news for new loans, but many existing credit customers are still paying over the odds. In August last year, price caps were introduced on how much a credit provider could charge for credit insurance and...
What kind of access bond do you have?
Access bonds have different rules so it is important to understand how yours works. Last month Standard Bank customers received notification that they could choose between two different types of access bonds. While this caused some confusion, it...
Taking cash out of your home in retirement
A lack of retirement savings has seen a significant demand from pensioners to use their homes to access capital, especially for medical costs. A reverse equity mortgage is a special type of home loan that lets you convert a portion of the equity in...
Previous Articles
Understand the risks when dealing with a pawnbroker
When his son was selected to attend a music competition in Europe, like any parent Malcolm (name changed at reader’s request) was prepared to do anything to make it happen. Unable to get a loan to cover the cost of the air tickets, he and his wife approached a...
What happens to your joint mortgage when your partner is placed under debt review?
Your joint mortgage may form part of your partner’s debt review without your consent. If you are married in community of property and your spouse is placed under debt review, so will you, because you share a joint estate which includes all debt. However, what about...
Why you shouldn’t be holding out for debt forgiveness
There is a misconception that debt intervention proposals currently being considered could mean that some debts are likely to be written off. The high levels of indebtedness in South Africa have led to parliamentary hearings, held by the portfolio committee on Trade...
Have the courts made it easier for people to become overindebted?
Last week the Western Cape High Court issued a judgement which set aside certain sections of the National Credit Act which it argued “unreasonably and unfairly discriminates against the section of the population that largely consists of the poorer and less privileged...
Debt is a trap, no matter who you borrow from
I recently wrote about readers who were complaining about loan shark tactics that got them trapped in a perpetual cycle of debt. Since writing the article, I received several comments from readers who argued that the actions of some micro-lenders were no different,...
Borrowing without a credit record
CreditVision, a new product from TransUnion, should make it easier to get financing without a credit record. One of the reader queries we receive regularly is from people who have chosen not to take out short-term credit. They have sensibly avoided credit cards and...
The murky world of loan sharks
Once you borrow money from a loan shark, you will be indebted to them for life. City Press has received an increase in the number of readers complaining about loan sharks as illegal moneylenders or mashonisa operate across the country, using threats to collect...
A debt review success story
Four months ago, City Press reader Oscar wrote to us asking for help in finding a debt counsellor as, in his words, he was “broke because of debt.” After doing some research we found RD Debt Counselling and Oscar met with debt counsellor Russell Dickerson. After four...
Cheaper credit insurance
On 9 August, the new limits on how much a lender can charge for credit insurance came into effect. Credit insurance is usually required when taking out a loan; the policy assists in the repayment of the loan if you die, are retrenched or become disabled. For several...
Consumers are starting to manage their credit better
Tighter lending criteria as well as consumer awareness is resulting in an improvement in debt levels. The latest figures from the TransUnion SA Consumer Credit Index suggest that South African consumers are starting to wean themselves off credit and are learning to...