A new study released by South African (SA) short-term lender Wonga, reveals that the number of SA borrowing from informal lenders is more than double the 15% recorded by Wonga in a similar survey in 2025.
The lender released its annual credit utilisation survey, with some sobering findings around how the cost-of-living crisis is increasingly forcing consumers to access dangerous, illegal lenders, often for daily essentials.
SA’s cost-of-living crisis deepens, with rising reliance on credit driving nearly a third of SA citizens to borrow from informal lenders, often for household essentials.
The findings are contained in Wonga’s annual credit utilisation survey.
The short-term lender surveyed 4 872 respondents from across the SA nation.
They show a financially stretched population highly dependent on credit to get through the month, with 41% of respondents using credit every month for essentials like groceries, transport, and electricity.
–ChannelAfrica–
