Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa July 2013 | Page 16

COVER STORY
comments Meyer de Waal of My Budget Fitness.
“This shows a realisation of the actual debt time
bomb that exists. In the second quarter of 2012,
a staggering R9 billion in unsecured loans were
granted to borrowers who earn less than R15 000
per month, compared to only R1.5 billion in home
loans for borrowers in the same income category.”
Although the Reserve Bank says that the level
of unsecured lending “doesn’t pose a risk to the
banking system as a whole”, distressed borrowing
and defaulting on loans is rife. According to the
NCR, at the end of 2012, a quarter of unsecured
loans in value terms were 30 days or more in
arrears, and 15.7% of unsecured loans were 121
days or mor