Press Release: Outdated credit fee caps are stagnating financial inclusion and driving consumers to illegal lenders

(Pretoria, 11 February 2026) The Credit Association of South Africa (CASA) has flagged that South Africa’s non-bank credit sector is facing a growing sustainability crisis. It reports that regulated credit fees and charges remain frozen under a framework that has not been meaningfully reviewed in over a decade. This is despite sharp increases in compliance costs, operating expenses, and consumer risk.

“The current structure of regulated fees under the National Credit Act (NCA) was last substantially reviewed in 2015, and is no longer aligned with economic reality,” states Leonie van Pletzen, CEO of CASA. “This has serious consequences for access to formal credit, consumer protection, and financial inclusion.”

“South Africa is regulating a modern credit market using a cost framework designed for a very different era,” she continues. “While inflation, technology, compliance, and risk costs have risen significantly, regulated fees have remained static, and as a result, this imbalance is now actively shrinking access to legal credit for consumers.”

A structural problem, not a pricing debate

CASA emphasises that the issue is not about excessive pricing, but about structural sustainability.

Van Pletzen reports that over the past decade, credit providers have been forced to absorb increased costs and risk:

• Substantial increases in regulatory compliance costs (including affordability assessments, data reporting, audits, and governance requirements);

• Rising operational expenses linked to technology, cybersecurity, staffing, and reporting obligations;

• Higher consumer risk in a constrained economic environment.

At the same time, maximum permissible fees and charges have remained largely unchanged.

“The result is a market where compliant providers are restricted,” notes van Pletzen. “Innovation is discouraged, and smaller or developmental lenders are pushed out entirely.”

Unintended consequences for consumers

CASA warns that outdated fee caps are producing outcomes directly at odds with public policy objectives such as:

• Reduced access to formal credit, particularly for low-income, informal, and rural consumers;

• Market exit by compliant lenders, leaving gaps in legal credit supply;

• Increased reliance on illegal and informal lenders, where there is no consumer protection, no affordability checks, and no recourse.

“When formal credit becomes commercially unviable, consumers don’t stop borrowing,” explains van Pletzen. “They simply borrow elsewhere, often at far greater personal and social cost.”

A call for evidence-led reform

“This is not a call to weaken regulation, it is an advocation to modernise it,” van Pletzen stresses.

“A sustainable credit market is essential to financial inclusion enabling regulated credit providers to offer development funding.”

Van Pletzen adds, “We can then support small businesses, provide education and housing loans, improve household resilience, enhance economic participation, and essentially promote the growth of our local economy.”

According to van Pletzen, CASA continues to engage constructively with policymakers and officials.

“We support a measured, evidence-based review of the current rates and fees framework,” she says. “One that balances consumer protection with market sustainability.”

CASA believes that a structured review of rates and fees is critical to:

• Preserving access to affordable, legal credit;

• Preventing further growth of illegal lending markets;

• Supporting responsible, regulated credit providers;

• Aligning credit regulation with South Africa’s broader economic and inclusion goals

Time for Policy Alignment

As South Africa grapples with unemployment, rising household pressure, and limited access to traditional banking, CASA is urging policymakers to recognise the non-bank credit sector as a strategic enabler of economic participation, not merely a regulatory risk.

“Credit policy does not operate in isolation,” van Pletzen concludes. “When regulation becomes misaligned with reality, it doesn’t eliminate demand, but displaces it. Updating the rates and fees framework is now a matter of economic necessity.”

Ends

About the Credit Association of South Africa (CASA)

CASA is South Africa’s leading association representing responsible and professional non-bank credit providers. CASA exists to enable credit providers to thrive and to build a sustainable credit industry that supports economic growth and financial inclusion across South Africa.

CASA brings together ethical and professional credit providers to build a fair, sustainable, and inclusive credit industry, reflecting a broader mandate and renewed purpose to serve the entire credit sector.

It is a member-based, non-profit association governed by an Annual General Meeting, an elected Board, and specialised Board Committees. CASA is registered as a Section 21 Company (1996/001116/08), with MVB Auditors as its auditors and Nedbank as its official banking partner.

About Leonie van Pletzen

Leonie van Pletzen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Credit Association of South Africa (CASA). With 15 years of experience in the industry, Leonie is recognised as a passionate advocate for ethical lending, financial inclusion, and regulatory reform. She brings a wealth of expertise in industry advocacy, corporate governance, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable development.

Leonie has played a key role in shaping policy dialogue between government, regulators, and the private sector, and is an active contributor on various national committees, including the National Credit Regulator’s Credit Industry Forum and the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority. Her leadership is defined by a commitment to protecting vulnerable consumers while ensuring the long-term sustainability of responsible credit provision in South Africa.

For interviews or further information please contact:

Claire Watt

The Friday Street Club

Tel: 082 490 3796

Email: claire@thefridaystreetclub.co.za