South Africans are increasingly turning to credit to get through the month as household budgets come under pressure.
South Africans are increasingly turning to credit to get through the month as household budgets come under pressure, with a new debt-pressure index showing loan-seeking searches dominating the online activity of a debt counselling business.
The mid-year South African Debt Pressure Index, compiled by Debt Solutions 4U, found that 73% of the organic visits to its online content in the 90 days to the end of June came from loan-seeking queries. The company said the searches reflected consumers looking for loans and ways to manage existing debt.
The index also reported that 14.6% of credit accounts were three or more instalments behind, while a further 4.4% carried adverse listings. Of the 104.11 million credit accounts recorded by the credit bureaus in the latest available data, 80.29% were in good standing.
The pressure is also visible in the household balance sheet. The South African Reserve Bank's June Quarterly Bulletin said household debt grew faster than nominal disposable income in the first quarter of 2026, pushing the household debt-to-income ratio to 62.2%, from 61.8% in the previous quarter. The cost of servicing household debt remained at 8.4% of disposable income.
