CUSTOMER STORY
Loan danger
Raising a deposit by taking out a second loan may not be the best idea.
T
he National Credit Regulator (NCR) receives an
average of 3 000 complaints per month.
Another indication of the immense debt pressure
on South African consumers is the 390 000 people
who have applied for debt counselling to date. An
astounding 46,8% of the country’s 19,98 million credit-active
consumers have impaired records. Concerned by the deterioration
in consumer credit health, the NCR has been compelled to issue a set
of affordability guidelines to assist consumers. In this unforgiving
economic climate, more and more consumers, particularly those
in the 18 to 35 demographic, are turning to unsecured loans as a
source of a deposit for vehicle and home loans.
This is verified by the rise in unsecured credit, which grew from
7,8% to 24% from December 2007 to December 2012. By law, the
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