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Income and affordability

How much you earn matters, and so does the shape of it. Income that arrives weekly, irregularly or in cash is harder to evidence than a salary landing on the same date every month, and evidence is what an affordability assessment runs on.

Income 8

Proving your income to a South African lenderEvidencing income for a credit applicationMinimum income for a loan in South AfricaThe income threshold for borrowingLoans on an irregular incomeBorrowing on variable or seasonal incomeBorrowing on R3 500 a monthBorrowing capacity at R3 500 monthly incomeBorrowing on R5 000 a monthBorrowing capacity at R5 000 monthly incomeBorrowing on R8 000 a monthBorrowing capacity at R8 000 monthly incomeLoans when you are paid weeklyBorrowing on a weekly pay cycleLoans when you are paid in cashBorrowing on cash income

Provable beats large

An assessment works from documents. A modest salary paid into a bank account every month is straightforward to verify; a larger income taken in cash may be almost impossible to evidence, and the second applicant is often the one who struggles despite earning more.

That is the practical problem these pages address: not how to inflate what you earn, which is fraud, but how to show what you genuinely earn in a form a lender can lawfully accept.

Related

The affordability assessment explainedBank statements for a loan applicationLoans by employment situationTypes of short-term loan

Sources and last checked

Page last checked 10 August 2026. Statutory caps and lender terms change — confirm anything you intend to rely on with the provider or the National Credit Regulator. Found something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it.