South Africa’s National Credit Act: Successes (and Failures) in Preventing Reckless and Predatory Lending

Abstract

This paper provides an analysis of South Africa’s statutory provisions aimed at preventing reckless and predatory lending to consumers. The focus of the paper is on the statutory mechanisms for combatting such lending, including a critique of the success or otherwise of the legislation’s implementation. The paper aims to provide a comparative analysis of an innovative approach aimed at protecting vulnerable consumers. As such, it is hoped, that the paper will provide useful techniques for the protection of borrowers in other common law jurisdictions, or indeed wherever vulnerable consumers of finance are liable to be exploited.

Keywords: consumer, credit, debt, reckless, predatory, lending