Report
Q4 2025 Industry Insights
SA’s Consumer Credit Market Shifted from Recovery to a More Stable Position in Q4 2025
Q4 2025 Report highlights include:
- Vehicle asset finance closed out a strong year of growth, with Q4 2025 showing improved demand and stronger originations amid softer new vehicle pricing, with better repayment performance
- Bank personal loans showed continued growth with improved repayment behaviour, while non-bank lenders maintained high growth on smaller value loans while seeing greater repayment pressure
- Retail and revolving accounts saw softer demand as consumers opted for smaller purchases and Buy Now, Pay Later options at point of sale
TransUnion’s Q4 2025 South Africa Industry Insights Report shows the consumer credit market shifting from a tentative recovery to broader stabilisation driven by steady inflation and interest rates, as well as improvements in consumers’ repayment behaviour. During the quarter there was again notable growth in vehicle asset finance and the personal loans market, while retail credit saw a change in product preference with consumers making smaller purchases.
Q4 2025 Metrics for Consumer Credit Products
“In Q4 2025, lenders widened access to credit where consumers showed stronger repayment discipline, tightening where risk accumulated and reshaping their portfolios towards lower risk borrowers. The data suggests that lenders’ priorities are shifting from stabilisation towards sustainable momentum as they pair cautious growth with sharper exposure discipline, deeper affordability insights and refined product strategies.”
Ayesha Hatea, director of research and consulting at TransUnion
About the South Africa Industry Insights Report
TransUnion’s quarterly South Africa Industry Insights Report provides in-depth, statistical information drawn from its national consumer credit database, aggregated across virtually every active credit file on record. Each file contains hundreds of credit variables that illustrate consumer credit usage and performance. Entities across industries can subscribe to and leverage the Industry Insights Report to analyse market dynamics throughout an entire business cycle, helping them understand consumer behaviour over time.
The report looks at major consumer lending categories: credit cards, personal loans, home loans, vehicle and asset finance (VAF), and clothing, focusing primarily on three dimensions across these categories: originations (new accounts opened), balances (outstanding total and average lending balances) and delinquencies (accounts in payment arrears).
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