S Africans borrowing more money: NCR

Monday, April 4, 2011

Pretoria - The total value of credit granted to consumers in the quarter ended December 2010 increased by 11.17 percent, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said on Monday.

"The total value of new credit granted increased from R75.14 billion for the quarter ended September 2010 to R83.53 billion for the quarter ended December 2010, an increase of 11.17 percent when compared to the previous quarter, but 31.97 percent higher than a year ago," said the regulator.

These are the findings of the Consumer Credit Market Report released by the NCR. The report is based on data submitted to it by registered credit providers.

In the quarter ended December 2010, the value of new mortgages that were granted increased by 2 percent quarter-on-quarter from R26.34 billion to R26.87 billion, while secured credit (which is dominated by vehicle finance) increased from R25.20 billion for September 2010 to R28.12 billion in December 2010.

In December 2010, unsecured credit increased from September's R13.38 billion to R16.83 billion which is an increase of R25.77 percent quarter-on-quarter.

Credit facilities such as credit cards, store cards and bank overdrafts increased by 16.25 percent quarter-on-quarter to R10.25 billion, while short term credit increased from R1.40 billion in September to R1.46 billion.

The NCR said individuals whose gross monthly income is over R15 000 received on average 82 percent of the number of mortgages granted over the period of December 2009 to December 2010.

At the end of December, the total outstanding consumer credit balances was R1.19 trillion representing a quarter-on-quarter growth of 1.84 percent with mortgages accounting for R760.68 billion, and secured credit accounting for R221.72 billion. 

"The banks' share of the total outstanding consumer credit as at December 2010 was R1.07 trillion (90.06 percent) with the retailers at R36.80 billion (3.10 percent), non-bank vehicle financiers at R39.35 billion (3.31 percent) and other credit providers at R42.03 billion (3.54 percent). Other credit providers consist primarily of pension-backed lenders, insurers, non-bank mortgage lenders and securitised debt," said the NCR. - BuaNews