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Nedbank provides debt relief for struggling South Africans and businesses
18 May 2020
Nedbank revealed last week that the lender would provide debt relief to more than 75 000 clients by 23 April 2020. To date, no applications, for either student or personal loans, had been rejected, said Nedbank Managing Executive for Unsecured Lending, Werner Terblanche. He added that the COVID-19 pandemic had drastically affected the economic activity in every arena.
Terblanche said that many consumers were struggling financially and would feel the impact of the pandemic beyond the national lockdown as the economy recovered. The debt relief would assist struggling South Africans and businesses in pulling through and beyond the crisis.
He explained that Nedbank would offer the loans with various debt relief options to help those who had been retrenched and could not earn an income or who now earned a reduced income. Every client’s financial status differed, he added, saying that each client would be assessed individually and offered the most suitable loan option to ease their cashflow pressure. Terblanche said that other products included an overdraft facility to support consumers in managing their monthly cash flow, and credit protection insurance that would cover loans in the event of death, disability, or inability to earn an income.
In April, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the COVID-19 loan guarantee scheme. The activation of this scheme follows the finalisation of legal details by National Treasury, the SA Reserve Bank and the Banking Association South Africa. Terblanche said that clients could apply for the loans at the following participating banks: Absa, FNB, Investec, Mercantile Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank.
