More than half now spend over 40% of their take-home pay servicing debt.
South Africans are using an increasingly larger share of their take-home pay to service debt, and a growing portion have debt obligations that are considered “unsustainable”.
The DebtBuster annual money-stress tracker survey results show that debt repayment pressure has worsened sharply, with 53% of respondents now spending more than 40% of their take-home pay on debt repayments (up from 48% last year).
According to DebtBuster CEO Benay Sagar this is the figure they are most worried about. The ideal is not to spend more than 30% of take-home payment on debt, including a home loan.
Only 33% of 18 000 respondents spend below 30% of their after-tax income on debt repayment. “At the worst we do not want that number to be more than 40%. Anything beyond that is not sustainable,” says Sagar.
Currently 35% of the respondents spend 50% or more on debt repayments.
Rising fuel, electricity and food costs have seen the cost-of-living crisis spiral. People are taking out personal loans in order to pay for essential expenses, says Sagar.
He notes that it is hard to detect how much of the debt relates to “buy-now-pay-later” products as this is not tracked by credit bureaus.
“But generally, the credit lines that are being tapped are basically for necessities, often for kids and other dependents first and last for self.”
Shifting contributors to financial anxiety
The dominant source of anxiety has shifted over the five years since DebtBusters started its survey.
It was generally attributed to:
- High inflation in 2022;
- Interest rates in 2023;
- Debt levels in 2024;
- A brief stabilisation in 2025; and now
- The cost of living in 2026.
“What has remained constant is that short-term financial survival crowds out longer-term planning for a large majority of South Africans,” says Sagar.
Psychologist Dr Andrea Kellerman says although overall financial stress levels have gone slightly up from 70% to 72%, the survey exposes some other alarming factors.
One of them is that the home is no longer the safe space.
“That accumulated stress that we have tracked over the past five years has now depleted people’s ability to make decisions, to think out of the box, and energy goes more and more into conflict-management, with family members having to absorb the stress.”
Feeling stuck
Kellerman notes that the feeling of being stuck has gone up from 29% the previous two years to 34% this year.
“People feel discouraged, their cortisol and adrenalin levels are up and people enter the burn-out space … We have moved from temporary financial stress to chronic psychological pressure.”
People need destressing tools to assist with better communication, and better sleeping habits to destress better. Once the brain settles down it becomes more resilient and better able to see opportunities.
Growing pressure
Nosiphiwo Nxawe, senior collections manager at DebtBusters, says from the survey it is clear that many South Africans are living from one pay day to the next.
The cost-of-living crisis is reflected in the survey results, with concerns relating to inflation and living costs increasing by 28%.
Concerns about rising electricity costs have doubled from last year.
People are not only worried about debt anymore. Consumers are concerned about running out of money before the end of the month, being able to pay monthly debt and unexpected expenses. “Everyday life has become more expensive,” says Nxawe.
Although all age groups are affected, it is particularly younger people who are feeling the biggest financial stress.
Women also seem to be battling more with financial stress. Overall women are 15% more worried about their financial affairs than men.
Taking action
The survey asks people what action they are taking to manage their debt. It appears people attempt to either control their expenses or find additional income.
Sagar says there seems to be fatigue in terms of finding ways to control expenses given the increase in living costs.
According to the survey 34% of respondents are looking for a better-paying job, up from 26% in 2022 but down from a high of 38% in 2023.
Many have unfortunately also seen online gambling as a potential source of additional income.
But Sagar’s overall conclusion is that consumers’ response is quite entrepreneurial.
“That reflects the resilience of us as a country,” he says. “People are making a plan.”
They are asking family to help, selling things online, making or growing things to sell, or renting out extra space.
However, one in seven respondents is not doing anything; not seeing the point any more. “We would like to see that number going down, because taking action either by cutting expenses or making extra money or both will be quite important.”
Getting control
One of the main reasons most people have not done anything is that they feel stuck. This is particularly the case among younger people (37% for those between 25 and 34).
Those aged 45 to 54 say they do not know who to trust (31%).
Kellerman says when people are overwhelmed, they lose the ability to see solutions. The main objective is to get unstuck. Consumers must gain financial control. “The strongest protective factor against chronic stress is control,” she adds.
The survey shows that people are more willing to consider debt counselling as a viable method to deal with debt.
Over the past three years negative sentiment towards counselling dropped by 24% from 49% in 2023 to 36% this year.
