South Africa’s high-income earners are still struggling to manage debt, according to DebtBusters’ Q2 2026 Debt Index. The index reports that applicants earning more than R50,000 a month require 103% of their take-home pay to service existing debt, indicating they are spending more than they earn just to meet repayments.
The findings highlight a wider issue of affordability and household financial pressure. While the available reporting focuses on the high-income threshold and the proportion of take-home pay needed for debt servicing, the index framing suggests that debt burdens are significant across income levels, not only among lower earners. The reporting does not provide breakdowns of debt types, repayment durations, or regional differences, so the emphasis remains on the overall debt-servicing strain for those earning above R50,000.
