Thousands flock to ‘loan sharks’

Jo-Maré Duddy – Namibians ran up their debt at Namfisa-registered microlenders by N$929 million in the first three months of this year, bringing the size of the industry’s total loan book to more than N$5.6 billion.

This is an increase of nearly N$1.19 billion or 26.8% compared to the end of March 2017, the latest quarterly report of the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namfisa) shows.

The bulk of total registered microlending debt belongs to term-day lenders – clients who don’t have to settle their account at the end of each month. At N$682 million, they represent about 73% of the total loan book. At the end of March, term-lenders total debt was nearly 21% higher than March 2017. Pay-day lenders’ total debt at the end of the first quarter stood at N$247 million, up about 15% from March 2017.

Term lenders

The 266 207 term-lenders who borrowed from registered microlenders in the first quarter needed an average of N$23 027 at a time. In the same quarter last year, term-lenders on average borrowed N$21 668 per visit. 41 390 or 18% more term-lenders knocked on registered microlenders’ door in the first quarter than a year ago.

Payday lenders increased by 15 186 or about 25.5% to 74 689. On average, they wanted N$1 610 per visit, nearly 7% more than a year ago.

Bank debt

Statistics from the Bank of Namibia (BoN) show consumers’ total debt for overdrafts, personal loans and credit cards at commercial banks locally at the end of March was more than N$8.6 billion. This is N$789 million or nearly 10.1% higher than March 2017.

The bulk of this – about N$5.5 billion – was personal loans and credit card debt, which rose by more than N$709 million or nearly 14.8% from March 2017. Overdrafts increased by nearly N$80 million or 2.6% to around N$3.09 billion.