2023 was one of the most difficult years for consumers, with households spending 62 percent of their take home pay to service debt.
That’s according to the findings of the 4th quarter debt index released by Debt Counselling company, DebtBusters.
The index also found that high income earners spend 71 percent of their income towards their credit. Home loan installments as well as vehicle repayments are the biggest contributors to the indebtedness for consumers earning more than R35 000 a month.
DebtBusters’ CEO Benay Sager, “And I think we are now fully seeing the impact of the interest rate increases on the consumer finances. Virtually all of our consumers who applied for debt counselling in quarter 4 of 2023 had personal loans, 95 percent of them and a further 24 percent had a short-term loan or payday loan and about 28 percent came to us with credit cards. So, I think all of this points to the fact that unsecured credit is a lifeline and continues to be for many.”
