Consumers are slowly showing better management of their finances and payment of credit. However, unsecured lending, which mainly consists of personal loans, has increased sharply over the year to March, according to the National Credit Regulator (NCR).
This week, the NCR released two reports: the Credit Bureau Monitor and the Consumer Credit Market Report.
According to the Consumer Credit Market Report, unsecured lending has increased by 66.88 percent since March last year. But the Credit Bureau Monitor shows that the percentage of credit-active consumers who have impaired credit records is decreasing.
Although the total value of credit granted increased by 31 percent – from R61 billion in the first quarter of 2010 to R80.7 billion in the first quarter of this year – the number of consumers with good credit records increased by 0.1 percent year-on-year to 74.2 percent of total consumers with credit records.
The percentage of credit-active consumers with adverse listings such as “handed-over” or “written-off” decreased by 1.2 percent over the past year, and the percentage of credit-active consumers who had judgments or administration orders against them decreased by 0.1 percent over the same period.
* If the information on your credit record is incorrect and the credit bureau does not correct it within 20 days of your complaint, you can escalate your complaint to the Credit Ombud on 0861 662837, fax 086 683 4644, or email ombud@creditombud.org.za