'Debt is now catching the rich'

Over-indebtedness and the inability to meet obligations has not been confined to the "less fortunate", a debt counselling agency said on Monday.

Wealthier consumers had also begun to default, Debtbusters said in a statement.

According to the most recent statistics released from rental research agency Tenant Profile Network, one out of five tenants paying rent of R12,000 per month and more did not make their payments in the fourth quarter of 2009.

"This is almost double the reported figure in the third quarter of last year," Debtbusters MD Luke Hirst said.

According to the data, 82 percent of all tenants in the R3000 to R7000 per month bracket and 79 percent in the R7000 to R12 000 month rental bracket all made their rental payments. This showed the current economic climate and over-indebtedness was hitting upper income brackets hardest.

Hirst said this was in line with his view that the middle to upper income brackets had over-extended themselves in the boom years and were now paying the price.

"While the country is officially out of recession, the situation for the average South African consumer does not seem to be looking up," Hirst added.

With 870,000 job losses in 2009 and thousands more taking salary cuts, the capability to pay rent and meet other obligations was not promising.