Forty-seven percent of credit-active South African women are in arrears with their clothing accounts, credit information firm TransUnion SA said on Friday.
“In the second half of last year, over 50% of these women were three months or more in arrears on these accounts. By the end of the first half of 2014, this figure had dropped to just under 47 percent,” said TransUnion SA manager Tersia van Rooyen.
“While this improvement is to be welcomed, when one looks at actual numbers the picture is less rosy. In effect, over 2.7 million women are currently in arrears on their clothing accounts.”
TransUnion SA found that women’s financial health was improving slightly but it could be better.
Van Rooyen said that with more than 40% of South African households headed by women, it was unfortunate that women were not as financially healthy as they could be.
She said women presently accounted for more than half (53%) of South Africa’s 18,057,953 credit-active consumers.
The sharpest increase in delinquencies between the second half of 2013 and the first six months of 2014 occurred in the bank loan sector with 175,603 women three months or more in arrears.
Source: [Timeslive]
