The report examines consumer credit behavior.
The latest credit stress report showed that outstanding debt in the economy continued to increase in the first quarter of 2026, with the total outstanding debt balance increasing by R41 billion (1.4%) to R2.7 trillion.
The increase was driven by an increase in open loan accounts, pointing to continued demand for credit despite ongoing financial pressure on households and businesses.
Compiled by AT20 in collaboration with Expert Decision Systems (XDS) report Released quarterly to examine consumer credit behavior and key economic events affecting South Africans during the period.
More loans opened in the first quarter
According to the report, 875,000 loans were opened in the first three months of the year, bringing the total number of active loans in the system to 56 million. Worryingly, outstanding balances increased by R41 billion (1.4%) to R2.7 trillion.
The report highlights that over-indebtedness continues to rise, with 41% of credit-active South Africans in default (three or more months in arrears) on one or more loans.
“The number of defaulters increased by nearly 400,000 people and the percentage of loans outstanding increased by more than 1 million, the largest proportion of loans outstanding since the third quarter of 2024,” the report said.
“The total of overdue balances increased by R12.6bn in the quarter, an increase of 5.6% for the quarter, and 14% year-on-year to R237bn (8.8% of total outstanding loans).”
youth and debt
The report notes that people under 24 make up about 2% of credit-active consumers by number and less than 0.5% by value.
“Youth credit behavior cannot be understood in isolation from the broader economic context. This includes rising levels of unemployment, deteriorating education prospects and the collapsing National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS),” AT20 said.
“The Students and Scholars category is home to one million individuals, who hold 1.56 million loans and took out nearly 265,000 new loans in the first quarter (up 22% year-over-year), reflecting the ongoing engagement with credit.”
Retail Loans, Unsecured Loans and Credit Cards
The report divided youth into two groups:
Less affluent youth: approximately 950 000 individuals with an average income of R4 315 per month
More affluent youth: about 72,000 individuals with an average income of R26504 per month
“The differences between these groups are huge and fundamentally shape their engagement with credit,” the report said. “For less affluent youth, 86% of these consumers have retail loans, 18% have unsecured loans, only 9% have credit cards, and a negligible amount of vehicle and home loan finance.
“For the more affluent youth, 64% of these consumers have retail loans, 46% have unsecured loans, and 40% have credit cards, with 22% VAFs and 4% home loans. The largest contributor to total exposure for this group is VAF (49%), due to the higher value of VAF products.”
Highlights of the first quarter
The report lists the following as economic highlights for the first three months of the year:
- Prices of both petrol and diesel fell in the first quarter, but Oil prices rose in February due to conflict in the Middle East Fuel prices rose significantly to $91 per barrel in the second quarter
- FNB/Bureau for Economic Research consumer confidence index rose to -7 from -9
- Repo rate remains at 6.75%
- The rand continued to perform favorably against the US dollar and strengthened by about 4.2% quarter-on-quarter
- Inflation decreased to 3.2%
- 2026 forecast for GDP increases to 1.6%