Eight thousand rand. Six months. No longer.
Short-term credit is its own product in law, not a small personal loan. It is the dearest money here by a wide margin, and it is meant for a gap rather than a plan.
- Most you can borrow
- R8 000Set by the regulations, not by a lender
- Longest term
- 6 monthsThe whole of it has to be repaid inside that
- Security
- NoneYour income is all that stands behind it
- What it costs
- CappedRegulation 42 puts a ceiling on the interest and the fees
Read this part first
This is the most expensive money on this website by a wide margin, and that is not a criticism of the lenders who write it — it is what short, small, unsecured credit costs anybody who provides it. If the same thing can wait for a personal loan it will cost far less. If it can be bought on secured finance it will cost less again.
It is a defined product, not a small loan
Three conditions make a short-term credit transaction, and all three have to hold: the amount deferred must not exceed R8 000, the whole of it must be repayable within six months, and the money is paid to you to use at your own discretion. A transaction outside those is simply not a short-term credit transaction — it is some other kind of agreement, and what a lender may charge for it changes with it.
That matters to you in one practical way. The cost ceilings that apply here are higher than on any other credit agreement, and they apply only inside those three conditions. An eight-month arrangement or a R12 000 one is being priced under different rules, whatever it is being called.
What the cap does, and what it does not
Regulation 42 under the National Credit Act puts a ceiling on the interest and on the fees for this product specifically. Lending into a household that visibly cannot afford it is reckless credit, and the affordability assessment is not optional.
We do not print the cap figures on this page. They have been amended, the published versions of the consolidated regulations disagree with one another, and a number lifted off a search result is not a number anybody should plan around. Your quote carries the actual figures, and the rand amount you will repay has to be on it.
Where it goes wrong
Almost always the same way: the loan is repaid with another loan. One two-week gap becomes a standing monthly cost, and the fees are charged again each time. If the repayment date is already a problem on the day you sign, the loan is not solving the thing you think it is solving.
What you will need
Straight off the application's own checklist. The ticked ones are required; the rest are asked for only where they apply to you.
- ✓Three months of payslipsSix if your income moves — commission, overtime or a shift allowance that matters.
- ✓Three months of bank statementsIn the bank's own PDF. Not a screenshot.
- ✓Your IDBoth sides if it is a card.
- ✓Proof of addressAnything under three months old with your name and the address on it.
- +What it is forOne line. It is not a formality — it is what tells us whether a cheaper product fits.
Questions
How is this different from a personal loan?
Size and term, and those two change the rules. A short-term credit transaction is capped at R8 000 and six months, and the cost ceilings that go with it are higher than a personal loan's. A personal loan runs for years, is written for larger amounts, and costs considerably less for the same money over the same period.
What will it cost me?
Your quote has to tell you, in rands, before you sign anything. The interest and the fees are both capped by regulation for this product. We deliberately do not publish the cap figures here — they have been amended and the published versions disagree — so the figures that count are the ones on the agreement in front of you.
Can I roll it over?
Treat that as the warning sign it is. Settling one short-term loan with another is the pattern that turns a two-week shortfall into a year of fees. If the repayment date looks impossible on the day you sign, say so then rather than later — a longer, cheaper product may be the honest answer.
Will it show on my credit record?
Yes. The enquiry shows and so does the account. Paid on time it does no harm; missed, it does real damage for years. A run of short-term loans in a short window is a pattern every lender who looks afterwards can see.
Is a payday loan the same thing?
Usually it is this product under a friendlier name. What matters is not the name but whether the agreement is inside the three conditions — R8 000, six months, paid to you — because that is what decides which cost rules apply to it.