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TymeBank now offers interest-free early grant access to grant recipients before the grant payment date to help them make ends meet.
More than 25 million South Africans rely on some form of income support from government and social grants are designed to cushion the most vulnerable in our country.
To assist them, the bank introduced a solution that enables grant recipients to access a portion of their grant money before the grant payment date, without any fees or interest.
“It is extremely difficult for many people to make their grant money last the entire month, particularly when there are unforeseen expenses. This is why we created Grant Advance, a facility that gives our customers early access to their funds,” says Cheslyn Jacobs, chief commercial officer of TymeBank.
Grant beneficiaries whose grants are paid into a TymeBank EveryDay Account can access R500 from their grant before the grant payment date. Grant Advance can generally be accessed during the last 10 days of the month, but it will not be accessible during the first 15 days.
Account holders do not pay additional fees or interest, provided the advanced amount is repaid when the next grant payment is received from Sassa. Whatever money was withdrawn will be deducted from the EveryDay account when the account holder receives the grant payment from Sassa.
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However, Grant Advance is not available to Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant beneficiaries.
It can only be used by General Grant recipients who have switched their grant payments to TymeBank and received at least one grant payment into their TymeBank account.
“It is important to understand that Grant Advance is not a loan and does not incur any added fees or interest for the beneficiary. We believe this facility can help many who rely on grants from getting into exploitative loan agreements with high interest charges.”
Jacobs says the problem of debt among recipients of social grants is a real one and this is just one mechanism to combat exploitation by unscrupulous lenders and provide much-needed financial relief to these grant beneficiaries.
Grant recipients who would like use Grant Advance can switch their social grant payments to TymeBank by opening a TymeBank Everyday account, downloading a TymeBank proof of account letter or statement using the App or internet banking and visiting their nearest Sassa office to change their banking details.
If their banking details are captured and processed by Sassa before the 15th of the month, the next grant payment will be paid into the selected TymeBank account.