Mzwandile Jacks  of Business Report :

“The number of borrowers who were more than three months in arrears at the end of December had surged 14 percent year on year to 7.3 million, as levels of debt stress continued to increase, the Credit Bureau Monitor revealed yesterday.

This represented 42 percent of the 17.5 million credit-active consumers at the end of last year, according to the monitor, which is compiled by the National Credit Regulator (NCR). The number of debtors who were more than three months in arrears had increased 2.8 percent quarter on quarter.

Virginia Serakwane, a credit consultant at the NCR, said the rise had occurred even after credit providers had negotiated payments with defaulting borrowers. These borrowers found it difficult to “even maintain the negotiated terms”.”

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