How to Avoid Common Personal Loan Mistakes

Most South Africans who are employed have taken out a personal loan at least once in their lifetime.

These personal loans are easy to get and help you finance major purchases, cover emergency expenses and maintain a satisfactory lifestyle. Even though they are fairly simple to manage, issues can still arise.

Avoid the most Common Loan issue

Missing to pay your monthly instalment on time is certainly the most serious problem for you as a borrower and for the lender as well.

The lender may penalize you or even file a lawsuit against you and have the debt collected automatically.

You would not want this to happen as you can lose valuable assets and get blacklisted.

The simplest way to avoid such an issue with your personal loan is to set up an automatic payment to the lender from your checking account. The other option is to set a fixed date for making the payment which is at least a week in advance of the due date. That way, even if you are busy on the day or there is a problem with the bank wiring system, you will still have enough time to make the payment.

If you do not have the funds to make the monthly payment, you should not lay low and hide. This is the biggest mistake that you can make. Call your lender no matter whether it is a small local company or a big bank like ABSA, African Bank or FNB and ask for an extension of the loan. You can also try to renegotiate the term and other conditions in order to make the personal loan repayment more bearable.