Despite a lot of negativity, including Moody’s downgrade last week, homeowners can still make a substantial difference to their bottom line. For instance, you can start making better lifestyle choices to lower your debt, says Adrian Goslett, chief executive of Re/Max of Southern Africa.
“Do whatever it takes now because access to finance will become more expensive in the future.”
Neil Roets, chief executive of Debt Rescue, says the outlook for the deeply indebted has been exacerbated by the lockdown.
”We in the debt counselling industry have known for some time things were going wrong at a rate of knots, but to have the lockdown and the Moody’s downgrade, as well as the tanking of the economy, all happening at the same time is more than a little disconcerting.”
However, Goslett, says: “There’s going to be a lot of talk around this. It will be helpful to put a different spin on it by considering a few realities. The first is, right now, there are bigger issues to focus on, like keeping your family safe and not getting sick.”
Also, the downgrade was not a surprise: “We knew it was coming and our financial markets priced it in long ago.”
South Africa is resilient and so are its people. “We will come through. It will just take time.”
