A recent debt summit in Midrand shows that there is still
continued widespread abuse and exploitation of garnishee orders
especially in impoverished communities. Statistics revealed at the
summit indicate that there are approximately three million
garnishee orders in circulation covering between 10% and 15% of
employees.
The biggest concern is that the financially vulnerable consumers
are paying the highest interest rates and have the highest
debt-to-disposable income ratio. These consumers are the least
skilled with limited financial skills whose situation is worsened
by extended periods of unemployment.
The current economic downturn is worsening the situation with
47% of credit-active consumers having impaired credit records. This
means that 9.2 million consumers are directly affected by the
impaired credit records and several million are indirectly affected
by its implications.
