Publications
Partners
Cape Town - This month debt counsellors are expecting a sharp increase in applications for debt counselling from people who overstuffed their Christmas stockings.
Andre Snyman, chief executive of Consumer Assist, says a definite increase was seen in the first week of January.
Paul Slot, director of the debt-counselling service Octogen, says that this January will be worse because consumers' disposable income is looking abysmal.
He points out that disposable income is down and at the same time food prices and medical costs are up. Consumers lack savings, so they maintain their lifestyle by living on credit.
He says his company's figures show that the average household (with an after-tax income of about R12 500 and two or three children) had spent 47% on repaying debt by end-December.
Snyman says that the reasons given by people applying for debt counselling include the fact that they did not receive a full 13th cheque but had budgeted for one. But, he points out, they still took a holiday.
Statistics from the National Credit Regulator show that of the 18m active users of credit, more than 8m are experiencing problems. To date only 140 000 have applied for debt counselling.
- Sake24.com
- For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.
