What a quick loan is
A quick loan is not a separate product in law. Almost every loan sold as quick, instant, fast or same-day is short-term credit: up to R8 000, repaid within six months, often in one payment on your next payday. That label decides the rules — the same caps on interest and fees apply whether the lender pays out in ten minutes or in three days.
Short-term credit may cost at most 5% a month in interest on the first such loan in a calendar year and 3% a month on later ones, plus an initiation fee of at most R165 plus 10% of the amount above R1 000, never more than R1 050, and a service fee of at most R60 a month, with VAT on the fees. On a short loan the fees are a large share of the price, which is why a week's loan is not much cheaper than a month's.
Instant loans: how fast is instant?
«Instant» describes the application, not the law. An online lender can answer within minutes because the checks are automated: it reads your ID number, your credit record and, often, your bank statements through a secure link. What it may not do is skip the affordability assessment, so an offer that promises money without looking at your income or your record comes from someone who is not following the National Credit Act.
How fast the money arrives after approval depends on the lender and your bank. Payouts on a working morning often land the same day; an application late on a Friday may wait until Monday. If speed matters, apply early on a working day with your documents ready.
Cash loans: money in your account, not cash in hand
«Cash loan» usually means that the lender pays the money out to you rather than to a shop or a supplier. Registered lenders pay into your bank account; very few hand out notes. A lender that wants to meet you to pay out cash, or that asks for your bank card or SASSA card to collect repayments, is not working within the law.
Because a cash loan is still short-term credit, the same caps and the same checks apply. The only difference from any other short loan is what you do with the money, and the lender has no say in that.
What a quick loan may cost
By law, interest, fees and VAT on R1 000 may total at most R270.26 over 7 days and R308.07 over 30 days. On R3 000 over 30 days the most is R636.70. These are ceilings: many offers cost less, and the pre-agreement quotation the lender must show you before you sign gives the exact total in rand.
Compare that total, not how fast the lender promises to pay. Two quick loans of the same amount can differ by a few hundred rand, and the cheaper one is rarely the one with the loudest promise.
Getting the money quickly without taking the wrong loan
Have your SA ID, your latest three months' bank statements and, where the lender asks for one, your latest payslip ready before you start. Check the lender's name and registration number on the National Credit Regulator's register. Then apply once, with the lender most likely to accept your situation — every application leaves an enquiry on your credit record, and several declines in a row make the next lender more cautious.
Borrow only what the repayment date can carry. If your next salary cannot cover the whole repayment, a loan over two or three months, or a payment arrangement with whoever you owe, will cost less than rolling one quick loan into the next.
Quick-loan scams
Fraudsters copy the language of quick loans because urgency works for them. The signs are always the same: a fee to «release» or «insure» the loan before it is paid out, a request for your PIN, your card or a one-time password, an app that wants your contacts, or a lender you cannot find on the regulator's register. A registered lender never asks for money before it pays out.