How to stay in the black this Black Friday
Consumers need to conduct a thorough check and spend wisely before splurging, to avoid falling further into debt
MBOMBELA – The general consensus is that South Africans have experienced taxing economic times this year. So much so that the annual Black Friday sales, which are quite literally on our doorsteps, do not have the same appeal they once held.
TransUnion Africa CEO, Lee Naik agrees, “It’s been an incredibly tough financial year for us as South Africans and we can’t go in with the same mindset of finding a bargain at any cost.
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Whatever your feelings about Black Friday are, Naik warned that it poses many dangers for consumers with “poor credit behaviour”.
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” To confirm this, we looked at new account openings made during the week of Black Friday last year (November 19 – 26), compared to the same week a month before. The results were eye-opening.”
According to Naik, consumers were more likely to take out loans and increase their spending limits during this period.
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“To the tune of a 37 per cent increase in new accounts and a 21 per cent increase in total credit limits for new credit cards, clothing and retail revolving accounts.
“The majority of this growth came from higher-risk loans – there was a 49 per cent increase in retail installment accounts (normally used for furniture and electronics) and a 30 per cent increase in retail revolving accounts (normally used for electronics, home ware and general appliances).”
He cautioned consumers to consider carefully the bargains they select which may lead to falling into the debt trap in the long run.
