Comments on: Crunch!

By: FutureFact team member

FutureFact team member — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:38:56 +0000

Sorry, I should have said people had a choice of whether they found it difficult or easy to get credit in my comment above.

By: FutureFact team member

FutureFact team member — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:37:51 +0000

People had a choice of answering whether they found it hard or difficult to get credit and whether they wanted credit at all. The portion of people saying they didn’t want credit grew nicely for a few years then dipped last year thanks to the recession. It was healthy in the pre recession days and to a certain extent is still healthy because people are also telling us they prefer to save their money before buying things rather than using credit facilities. We see quite a bit of evidence too that people have been burnt by getting into debt and have learned their lesson. Hope this helps to understand the attitudes.

By: futurefact

futurefact — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:41:39 +0000

Kecia: The base is the same – each survey went to adults living in communities greater than 500 (i.e. excluding deep rural).
Natan: it is a mixed bag – when people can’t access credit the economy is restricted (fewer new cars, homes, durables etc.) and jobs are lost BUT as we know SA weathered the recession better than many countries because of our stricter credit controls!

By: Natan

Natan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:18:43 +0000

Is this fact a good thing or a bad thing for the economy? I think its good – it means the NCA is working and people are more responsible and the credit providers (Banks, Big retailers etc) can’t con and bully us masses into unnecessary credit.

By: Kecia

Kecia — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:45:11 +0000

but how many tried to access credit? is the base the same?