Financial assistance

Most South African employees suffer from financial stress which has a negative effect on productivity. Due to the deteriorating economic situation in South Africa because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the general decline in the economic health of the country, more and more employees are also being financially excluded by banks as they tighten their lending criteria to minimise their risk.

This often leads to the employees having no other option but to access the informal lending market (mashonisas or loan sharks) where people get financially exploited and are often subjected to illegal collection tactics.

AFS Financial Services, through its service provider, have a range of Financial Assistance and Financial Wellness solutions to address these growing problems among employees.

Financial Assistance

Through a range of short-term loan products, at a more competitive price than what employees can obtain in the market, employees who are financially excluded from the market (i.e. banks won’t provide them with credit) can now gain access to credit in a responsible and convenient manner. Because instalments are deducted from the employee’s salary, the risk of defaulting repayments is minimised which means that these employees can be helped. All offerings are registered with the National Credit Regulator which means that all legal requirements with regard to the provisioning of credit are strictly adhered to.

Credit Repair

A large portion of the South African population has impaired credit records. We can assist employees with impaired credit records by negotiating with creditors, settling the outstanding debt (often at a reduced rate), and clearing judgments and adverse listings to improve the employee’s credit record. This will greatly improve the employees’ chances of accessing home loans and vehicle finance in future.

Debt Review

Debt Counselling can assist with employee/s over-indebtedness through budget advice, negotiation with their Credit Providers for reduced payments and the restructuring of debt. In the case where the employee is no longer over-indebted, we will prepare a court application and submit it to our attorney on record to take the application to the court and either rescind or declare the employee no longer over-indebted.

Garnishee Order Management

A Garnishee Order is a court order which grants the creditor the opportunity to receive instalments from the employee through monthly deductions off the employee’s salary. In most instances, a monthly instalment is deducted from the employee’s salary without the outstanding balance reducing, because of overcharged fees. We assist in the withdrawal of Garnishee Orders from employee payslips by means of auditing the Garnishee Orders to either withdraw the order if it is invalid or settle the outstanding debt to withdraw the order if it was valid.

Financial Literacy Education

Underpinning all these products is a basic financial literacy programme that delivers content via a series of videos. Once the employee has watched the videos a range of questions have to be answered. When the employee has worked through all the videos and answered the questions correctly the employee then qualifies for preferential products which adds an incentive to work through the financial literacy education programme.