Financially stressed, drowning in debt and struggling to buy basics were the overwhelming results of two separate financial consumer surveys released this week.
The Omsim report found that 70% of South Africans had not seen any improvement in their income since 2020. “This means that the majority of those interviewed have less income in real terms,” says Vuyokazi Mabude, the head of knowledge and insights at Old Mutual. Of those interviewed for the Omsim report, more than half said they had dipped into savings to make ends meet, while 43% had borrowed money from family and friends. One in three respondents had taken out a personal loan in the past year. Of those, one-third had taken the loan to pay off other debt, while another third had borrowed money to pay for basic needs.
The Money-Stress Tracker found that 62% of those earning more than R35 000 a month had unsustainable levels of debt, while debt repayment pressure was most prevalent among people aged between 45 and 54. Of that age group, 45% had debt repayments in excess of half of their income.The cause of this debt pressure is possibly due to these groups being most likely to have mortgages and therefore most affected by the rapid interest rate hikes.