Durban consumer views on the National Credit Act (NCA).

Abstract

The National Credit Act aggressively addresses problems in the South African credit market. The purpose of the NCA is to promote socio-economic and ethical values that will serve to protect consumers, through the application and enforcement of various laws. The research was conducted in the Durban area. Literature was surveyed with the aim to determine the views of Durban consumers concerning the National Credit Act. The study adopted an exploratory and quantitative research method using a survey (questionnaire) as its main data-collection instrument. This was administered via email. The sampling technique used is a non-probability sampling with a target population comprising of natural persons in the Durban area, who have been affected by credit. Data were analysed using the SPSS statistical package, which was appropriate for this research since its nature was quantitative rather than qualitative. Significance and correlations were the basis of the data analysis in this research and cross-tabulations were used in order to enable presentation of results. Only the variables that were relevant to the research questions were used for further analysis after the significance tests were done. The findings on the research reflected that most of the respondents had higher education degrees, which indicated that the research covered well-educated people; most respondents were satisfied with the way the NCA was explained when it was introduced, although the research highlighted a need for further consumer awareness of the Act to eliminate major default. Some recommendations that include the further research on the same topic with a larger sample were made. It is concluded that it is necessary to make improvements on the Act.