{"id":65347,"date":"2025-10-08T11:01:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T11:01:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65347\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T11:01:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T11:01:06","slug":"south-africans-now-living-on-credit-as-banks-clamp-down-on-lending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/65347\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans now living on credit as banks clamp down on lending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n        Yet, just as more people are reaching for their cards or applying for loans, the banks are quietly tightening their grip.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        According to the latest TransUnion Industry Insights Report for the second quarter of 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/africa.businessinsider.com\/local\/markets\/ramaphosa-declares-economic-emergency-in-south-africa\/75b1gts\" id=\"d7744b5d-08b6-4921-bfef-7fb79a743ea6\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lenders are reducing credit limits<\/a>, approving fewer large loans, and becoming increasingly cautious about whom they lend to. It\u2019s a squeeze that\u2019s leaving struggling households with fewer financial lifelines.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        \u201cConsumers, particularly younger cohorts, are increasingly relying on credit to manage affordability constraints, while lenders are recalibrating their approaches to growth and risk,\u201d TransUnion said in the report.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        The cautious stance comes even as South Africa\u2019s economy shows faint signs of recovery. GDP grew 0.8% in the second quarter, while inflation eased to 3.6%, its lowest point in years. The Reserve Bank responded with a rate cut to 7.0% in July. But the biggest obstacle remains the jobs crisis:<a href=\"https:\/\/africa.businessinsider.com\/local\/markets\/top-10-african-countries-with-the-highest-unemployment-rate\/h5r4k01\" id=\"7e1d7d3c-65c5-490b-9663-8cd70ddde2d0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> unemployment is stuck at 32.9%<\/a>, leaving many South Africans dependent on debt to survive.\n    <\/p>\n<p>        Banks cut limits as credit demand soars<\/p>\n<p>\n        The number of active credit cards climbed to 7.4 million, with balances rising by 7.5% year-on-year to about $9.8 billion. On average, each cardholder now owes $1,320.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        Yet, new cardholders are getting smaller limits, down 19.5% to around $1,195, as banks \u201cbalance growth with risk mitigation.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        While more people are swiping, most are still keeping up with repayments. Delinquency rates dropped, even as overdue balances rose slightly to 18.1%.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        For many, this discipline comes not from comfort but from fear, missing a payment could mean losing one of their few remaining safety nets.\n    <\/p>\n<p>        Non-bank lenders fill gap, but at a cost<\/p>\n<p>\n        Personal loans paint a similar picture: fewer people are taking them out, but those who do are borrowing more, often to consolidate debt or cover unexpected expenses.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n        For ordinary South Africans, credit has become a survival tool rather than a convenience. And as banks close the taps, the question is no longer whether people can borrow, but how long they can keep balancing debt and daily life.\n    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yet, just as more people are reaching for their cards or applying for loans, the banks are quietly&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[138,219,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-65347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}