RandScout Borrower Index: what South Africans asked to borrow, November 2026
What 1 290 people asked for when they compared loans on RandScout between 26 September 2026 and 11 November 2026.
Last updated 11 November 2026
Most people who compare loans in South Africa want a small amount, fast: 7 in 10 of the 1 290 people who finished our quiz asked to borrow R5 000 or less. These are their own answers, counted together; no figure here describes one person.
Key findings
- 7 in 10 asked to borrow R5 000 or less; more than a third asked for R1 000 or less.
- 54% of people taking home R15 000 to R30 000 a month still asked for R5 000 or less (153 of 283).
- 43% said they have missed repayments or been listed with a credit bureau; 14% said they are under debt review.
- 58% of those asked what the loan was for chose emergency expenses (571 of 989); 11% wanted to pay off other debt.
- 55% bank with Capitec, more than all the other banks together.
- 30% of searches came in the third week of the month (the 15th to the 21st), more than in any other week.
How much people want to borrow
Only 5% asked for more than R50 000. Small loans of a month or two cost the most per rand borrowed, so it pays to check the total cost first: our loan cost calculator shows what a loan may cost by law, and our page on payday loans compares the short-term options.
| Answer | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Up to R1 000 | 469 | 36.4% |
| R1 000 to R5 000 | 443 | 34.3% |
| R5 000 to R15 000 | 170 | 13.2% |
| R15 000 to R50 000 | 138 | 10.7% |
| More than R50 000 | 70 | 5.4% |
Income and work
Four in ten take home less than R7 500 a month. Most have a permanent job; 5% are government employees paid through PERSAL, for whom PERSAL loans are a separate market.
| Answer | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under R3 500 | 154 | 11.9% |
| R3 500 to R7 500 | 356 | 27.6% |
| R7 500 to R15 000 | 407 | 31.6% |
| R15 000 to R30 000 | 283 | 21.9% |
| More than R30 000 | 90 | 7.0% |
| Answer | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent job | 893 | 69.2% |
| Self-employed | 148 | 11.5% |
| Temporary or contract work | 77 | 6.0% |
| Not employed | 73 | 5.7% |
| Government employee (paid via PERSAL) | 66 | 5.1% |
| Pensioner | 33 | 2.6% |
Credit record
43% said they have missed repayments or been listed with a credit bureau, and 14% that they are under debt review. Fewer lenders will consider them, and offers that promise a loan “with no credit check” are a warning sign: see loans for blacklisted people and loans under debt review.
Age
| Answer | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 18 to 24 | 285 | 22.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 532 | 41.2% |
| 35 to 44 | 294 | 22.8% |
| 45 to 54 | 123 | 9.5% |
| 55 and over | 56 | 4.3% |
When people search
Friday is the busiest day (19% of searches) and the weekend the quietest (20% over both days). The third week of the month, the 15th to the 21st, brought 30% of searches. One search in fourteen came between midnight and 6am.
Where the numbers come from
- Every completed quiz on randscout.co.za from 26 September 2026 to 11 November 2026: 1 290 in all. Visits we identified as automated were left out, and so were answers from anyone under 18.
- The answers are what people told us; we do not check them. Asking for a loan is not the same as getting one.
- This is not a representative survey of South Africans. People reached us from ChatGPT and other AI assistants (39%), social media including our adverts (22%), directly (16%), search adverts (15%), search results (6%) and our emails (2%).
- Someone who filled in the quiz twice counts twice. The question on what the loan is for was asked until 1 November 2026, so those shares rest on 989 answers.
- Every share rests on at least 30 people. How we handle the answers themselves is in our privacy policy; how we choose which providers to show is in how we compare.
- The next edition is planned for February 2027.
Using these figures
You may quote and republish these figures with a link to this page, credited as “RandScout Borrower Index, November 2026”. Journalists can ask for other cuts of the data at [email protected].
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