August 2021 IDM Special Edition
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FROM THE <strong>IDM</strong> DESK<br />
• Unsecured debt level continues to increase: The level of unsecured<br />
debt is on average 32% higher than in 2016 and up by 49%<br />
amongst consumers taking home R20 000 or more. This is a direct<br />
result of consumers using unsecured debt to offset the erosion of<br />
their take-home pay.<br />
Sager says despite all the bad news, which is perhaps unsurprising given<br />
the impact of successive lockdowns on an already struggling economy,<br />
there were some positive findings that show debt counselling works:<br />
• More consumers successfully complete debt counselling: There are<br />
now seven times as many consumers completing debt counselling<br />
as there were in 2016.<br />
• Effective mechanism for paying back debt: Consumers who<br />
successfully completed debt counselling in Q2 <strong>2021</strong> paid<br />
back R320m worth of debt to their creditors as part of the debt<br />
counselling process<br />
He says the fact that 56% of applicants for debt counselling are male<br />
is also positive. In Q2 2016 more women (52%) than men (48%) were<br />
applying for help to restructure their debt.<br />
“In a society where men typically tended not to want to talk about or seek<br />
help with debt, it’s encouraging that men are becoming more proactive<br />
about dealing with debt problems.”
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