Loans above R8 000, up to R10 000
Covers R8 001 to R10 000.
Which rules apply to your loan
South African law prices small loans in two different ways, and R8 000 is the line between them. Almost nobody explains this to borrowers, so most people cross it without knowing.
At or below R8 000, repaid in six months or less, a loan may be sold as short-term credit. Interest is capped at 5,00% a month on a first loan, and 3,00% a month if you have borrowed and repaid before. The service fee is R60 excluding VAT — R69 including VAT — for each month of the term.
Above R8 000, that regime falls away. Your loan is priced under the ordinary unsecured credit rules instead:
- Interest is capped at the repo rate plus 21,00% — that is 28,00% a year at the current repo rate of 7,00%.
- The initiation fee is R165 plus "10 per cent of the amount in excess of R1 000", capped at R1 050 excluding VAT (R1 207,50 including VAT), and it may never be more than 15,00% of the principal debt.
- The service fee stays at R60 excluding VAT (R69 including VAT) a month.
Every amount on this page — R8 001 to R10 000 — sits above that line. If the number you have in mind is R8 000 or less, loans from R5 000 to R8 000 covers it instead.
One thing to hold on to before you read any figure below. The rate cap is a ceiling, not a quote. Your actual rate is set by the lender after a credit and affordability assessment, and it is usually lower than the legal maximum.
Before you go further
What is this for?
Before the amount, the reason. What you need the money for decides which lender fits — and above R8 000, most of what is left is instalment credit.
One free form, checked against NCR-registered lending partners. No upfront fees. Approval depends on affordability and lender checks, and there is no obligation to accept any offer.
What R8 500 to R10 000 costs over 24 months
These are estimates at the 28,00% legal ceiling over 24 months, with the initiation fee financed into the loan and the R69 monthly service fee added on top of the instalment rather than buried inside it. Credit-life cover is not included — it is commonly required on unsecured credit and is charged in addition, so ask each lender what it costs.
Estimates, not offers. Nothing here is an approval, and a shorter or longer term changes every figure.
R9 000 loan
R9 000 sits below R9 850, so the initiation fee here is still climbing — R1 110 including VAT, financed into the loan. That is the practical difference between this amount and anything above R9 850: every extra rand you borrow up to that point adds fee as well as interest. Over 24 months at the 28,00% ceiling the estimate is R624 a month, R14 974 repaid in total, of which R5 974 is the cost of credit. It is an estimate at the legal maximum rate, not an offer.
R10 000 loan
R10 000 is where this band ends, and the first amount on it where the initiation fee has stopped growing — R1 208 including VAT, and it will read the same on a loan ten times this size. Over 24 months at the 28,00% ceiling the estimate is R684 a month, R16 420 repaid in total, and R6 420 in cost of credit. No short-term lender in our list reaches R10 000, so what comes back will be an instalment loan with a full affordability check behind it, usually over a longer term than you had in mind. Treat the figures as an estimate at the legal maximum — your rate is set after that check and is usually lower.
The loan quietly changes shape between R8 000 and R10 000
Ask a short-term lender for R8 000 and it can pay that out over six months. Ask for R10 000 and you either get a no, or you get handed to a different product with a different term and a different assessment behind it. Very few people are told that is what happened.
Here is the same money, priced three ways.
| What you borrow | How it is priced | Term | Monthly | Total repaid | Cost of credit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R8 000 | Short-term rules, first loan | 6 months | R2 018 | R12 107 | R4 107 |
| R8 000 | Instalment loan at the 28,00% ceiling | 24 months | R563 | R13 505 | R5 505 |
| R10 000 | Instalment loan at the 28,00% ceiling | 24 months | R684 | R16 420 | R6 420 |
The initiation fee on R8 000 is R995 including VAT either way — the fee rule does not change at the line. The pricing does.
Read the first two rows together. The short-term version costs less in total and takes a far bigger bite each month. The instalment version is easier monthly and costs more by the end. Neither is automatically the better deal; it depends on what your budget can carry without breaking.
What matters at this amount is that crossing R8 000 deletes the first row from the menu. You are not being offered a bigger version of a payday loan. You are being offered a different product, on a longer term, with a full affordability assessment behind it — and you should read the agreement as a new thing, not a familiar one.
The fee that stops moving at R9 850
The initiation fee climbs with the size of the loan — R165 plus 10 per cent of everything above R1 000 — until it reaches its cap of R1 050 excluding VAT, or R1 207,50 including VAT. On those numbers the cap is reached at exactly R9 850.
You can watch it happen inside this band. Financed into the loan, the fee including VAT is:
| Loan amount | Initiation fee, including VAT |
|---|---|
| R8 500 | R1 052 |
| R9 000 | R1 110 |
| R9 500 | R1 167 |
| R10 000 | R1 208 |
At R10 000 it has stopped. It will read R1 208 on a R20 000 loan, on a R100 000 loan and on a R300 000 loan — the fee never rises again, no matter how much more you borrow.
That has a blunt consequence for anyone borrowing at this size. Stepping from R8 000 up to R10 000 costs you extra fee as well as extra interest. Stepping from R100 000 to R120 000 costs no extra fee at all. Proportionally, fees are heaviest on small loans, and this band is the last stretch of the ladder where the fee still moves.
The same logic protects the very smallest loans from the other direction — the fee may never exceed 15,00% of what you borrow, which is why the figures on small loans under R2 000 do not follow the R165-plus-10-per-cent formula. Above this band, on loans above R10 000, up to R50 000, the fee line is simply flat.
Payday lenders stop here — what takes their place
Five short-term products in our list stop dead at R8 000, and they are the ones most people at this amount have used before: Absa's Express Loan, Absa's Instant Loan, Boodle, Wonga and Lime24. Above R8 000 none of them is an option, whatever your credit record looks like.
What is left falls into three shapes:
- Instalment personal loans, from the banks and the large personal-loan houses. Fixed monthly repayment, six months or longer, full affordability assessment.
- Two short-horizon lenders that reach past R8 000. Fasta advertises up to R15 000 paid to a bank account (its virtual card stops at R8 000), and Unifi advertises up to R12 000, rising to R24 000 for returning customers only.
- One revolving facility. FinChoice MobiMoney runs up to R10 000 — the exact ceiling of this band — and works as a limit you draw from over one to three months, not as an instalment loan.
Because you are now in personal-loan territory, expect a proper assessment. Lenders at this size usually ask for three months' bank statements, your latest payslip, your ID and proof of address, and they will check what you can afford out of your discretionary income, not just whether you have an income.
If a short-term lender has said yes to you before and a personal-loan lender says no, the reason is usually the depth of that check rather than the amount. It is worth reading what lenders look at when you have been declined before rather than applying again straight away — repeated applications in a short window do not help you.
Why some pages still quote "5% a month" at R10 000
Search for a R10 000 loan and you will find pages quoting "5% per month". That number is real, but it belongs to short-term credit — loans of R8 000 or less repaid within six months. Applied to R10 000, it is not a bargain and it is not a warning; it is simply the wrong rule.
We had that mistake on our own R10 000 page, and we have removed it. This page states the rule that actually applies above R8 000: a ceiling of 28,00% a year, an initiation fee capped at R1 050 excluding VAT, and a R69 monthly service fee.
Two checks you can run on any page or any quote at this amount:
- Is a monthly interest rate being used above R8 000? If yes, treat the whole page with suspicion.
- Is the service fee shown separately? A monthly instalment quoted without the R69 fee understates what leaves your account every month.
Our method is published in full further down, and every figure on this page reproduces from it.
Who leaves and who stays above R8 000
This table shows only what changes at R8 000. It is the whole story of this band on the supply side — the lenders whose availability is unaffected are on the full personal loan lender comparison rather than repeated here.
| Lender | Available above R8 000? | Minimum term | What changes for you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Absa Express Loan | No — stops at R8 000 | 1 month | Absa's short-horizon product ends at the statutory line. Its ordinary personal loan carries on from R3 000, but on a 12-month minimum term. |
| Absa Instant Loan | No — R350 to R8 000 | Under 35 days | A bank-issued loan repaid inside 35 days. Above R8 000 there is no bank product with that shape. |
| Boodle | No — R8 000 for customers who have borrowed and repaid before, R5 000 for new customers | 1 month | If you were expecting the R8 000 you qualified for last time, that is the ceiling, not a starting point. |
| Wonga | No — R8 000 for existing customers, R5 000 for new customers | 4 days | Same tiered ceiling as Boodle. NCR registration number NCRCP12875. |
| Lime24 | No — R500 to R8 000 | 5 days | Stops exactly on the statutory line, over terms of up to 90 days. |
| Fasta | Yes — up to R15 000 paid to a bank account; the virtual card stops at R8 000 | 1 month | One of only two short-horizon lenders here that reach past R8 000. Which tier you get changes the ceiling. |
| Unifi | Yes — up to R12 000, and up to R24 000 for returning customers only | 3 months | Reaches this band, but the higher limit applies only after you have borrowed and repaid. Check the total cost, not just the instalment. |
| FinChoice MobiMoney | Yes — revolving facility up to R10 000 | 1 month | This band's ceiling is also MobiMoney's. It is a limit you draw from and repay over one to three months, not an instalment loan — a different product shape, with different consequences if you keep redrawing. |
Lender list checked 2 August 2026. Every row above was verified on the lender's own site that day. FinChoice MobiMoney is a separate, revolving product from the FinChoice personal loan; FinChoice publishes two different maximums for that personal loan on its own two websites, so we do not print one — ask them: ____. Capitec and FNB do not publish a minimum loan amount either — ask them: ____. This table shows only what changes at R8 000; the lenders whose availability is unaffected are on the full comparison.
Compare the lenders that actually work at this size
Above R8 000 you are shopping for a personal loan, not a payday loan, and the full lender comparison lives on one page rather than being repeated here. It shows every NCR-registered lender we track, what each one advertises, and the terms they publish.
We are an introducer, not the lender. Comparing costs you nothing, there are no upfront fees, and you are under no obligation to accept anything you are shown.
How we work these figures out
Every rand figure on this page comes from one published method, and here it is in full.
- The initiation fee is financed into the loan. What you owe is what you receive plus the fee, so interest is charged on the financed balance and not on the cash alone. Some lenders deduct the fee from the payout instead — that is a lender-by-lender choice, and our figures assume financing.
- The initiation fee is R165 plus "10 per cent of the amount in excess of R1 000", capped at R1 050, and it may never exceed "15 per cent of the principal debt". All three figures exclude VAT; we multiply by 1,15 for the amount you actually pay.
- Above R8 000 we use the legal ceiling of 28,00% a year — the repo rate of 7,00% plus 21,00% — as an ordinary monthly-compounding annuity. At or below R8 000 over six months or less, we use the short-term schedule of 5,00% a month on a first loan, or 3,00% a month on a repeat loan.
- The service fee is R60 excluding VAT (R69 including VAT) a month, charged for every month of the term. It is always shown on top of the instalment, never folded into it.
- Rounding. We carry the arithmetic at full precision and round only what we display, to the nearest rand. Where a total does not divide evenly by the term, the final instalment absorbs the remainder.
- Credit-life cover is excluded from every figure here. It is commonly required on unsecured credit and is charged in addition. Ask each lender what it costs.
- All rand figures include VAT at 15,00%.
The rate we use is the legal ceiling, not a quote. Your actual rate is set by the lender after a credit and affordability assessment and is usually lower than the legal maximum. Nothing on this page is an offer, a quote or an approval.
Questions people ask about this range
Is a R10 000 loan a short-term loan?
No. South Africa's short-term credit rules apply only to loans of R8 000 or less repaid within six months. A R10 000 loan falls under the ordinary unsecured rules, where interest is capped at 28,00% a year at the current repo rate of 7,00%. Any page pricing R10 000 at a monthly short-term rate has the law wrong.
Why was I offered R8 000 when I asked for R10 000?
Because several lenders stop dead at R8 000 — that is where their pricing regime ends, not where their opinion of you ends. Boodle and Wonga both cap at R8 000, and only for customers who have borrowed and repaid before; new customers cap at R5 000. Lime24 and Absa's Express and Instant loans stop at R8 000 too. To borrow above it you need a personal-loan lender, which means a fuller affordability assessment.
What would a R9 000 loan cost me over 24 months?
At the 28,00% legal ceiling, with the R1 110 initiation fee (including VAT) financed into the loan and the R69 monthly service fee on top, the estimate is R624 a month, R14 974 repaid in total and R5 974 in cost of credit. That is an estimate at the maximum legal rate, not an offer. Your own rate is set after a credit and affordability check and is usually lower. Credit-life cover is charged in addition.
Does the initiation fee keep growing between R8 500 and R10 000?
Yes, but only up to R9 850. The fee is R165 plus 10 per cent of the amount above R1 000, capped at R1 050 excluding VAT — R1 207,50 including VAT — and it reaches that cap at exactly R9 850. Inside this band it moves from R1 052 including VAT at R8 500 to R1 208 at R10 000, and then it never rises again, however much more you borrow.
Which lenders stop lending above R8 000?
In the list we track, five products stop at R8 000: Absa's Express Loan, Absa's Instant Loan, Boodle (for customers who have borrowed and repaid before), Wonga (same tier) and Lime24. Fasta and Unifi reach past it — Fasta up to R15 000 to a bank account, Unifi up to R12 000 and up to R24 000 for returning customers only. FinChoice MobiMoney runs to R10 000 as a revolving facility. Everything else at this size is an instalment personal loan.
Can I repay a R10 000 loan in three months?
Seldom from a mainstream instalment lender. Above R8 000 most personal-loan providers start at six or twelve months, so a three-month plan usually is not on offer. Fasta and Unifi do work over shorter terms at this size — Fasta over one to six months, Unifi over three to nine. A short term means a much larger monthly payment, so check the instalment against your budget before you commit to it.
One free form. No upfront fees, and no obligation to accept any offer.