Deb Wright - Phoenix Bonds

21/10/2026

21/10/2026

When interest rates rise, the pressure doesn’t show up overnight. 📈

This graph tracks South Africa’s prime lending rate alongside bank impairments, essentially loans where banks expect they may not recover the full amount owed.

The connection? Higher interest rates mean higher repayments, which can make it harder for households and businesses to keep up. That pressure takes time to filter through into missed payments and bad debts.

Lower rates work the other way, giving borrowers some breathing room. According to PwC’s 2026 Banking Report, lower interest rates and easing inflation had started to improve household affordability.

Meanwhile, South Africa’s banks remain financially strong. Total bank assets reached a record R9.21 trillion at the end of June 2026, up 9.1% on the previous year. Major banks’ combined headline earnings also increased by 9.3% to R82.3 billion in the first half of 2026.

What does this mean for your home loan? Even a small rate change affects your monthly budget. Leave yourself room for repayments to rise, and use any relief from rate cuts to build a buffer where you can.

13/10/2026

28/09/2026

Residency is the restriction buyers find out about last, usually after they've signed an offer.

If you hold an SA ID, you're South African in the bank's eyes, whether you're a citizen or a permanent resident. Working abroad, on a visa, or not resident here at all, and the lending drops. Foreigners are capped at 50% LTV by SARB rules.

We check this on day one, so your deposit is a known number before you go looking.

26/09/2026

Two real outcomes from our files.

A client scoring 596, technically "poor", received a 100% offer. Their accounts were retail, the credit card was always paid on time, and the low score was mostly a lack of history.

A client scoring 661, technically "excellent", was declined. Affordability was there, but the debt-service ratio was high and too much of the debt was unsecured.

The score is a summary. It is not the story. We read all 24 months of payment history, the debt structure and every warning on the report before we advise you.

21/09/2026

Self-employed? A home loan is still possible.

The banks just need to understand how your business earns, what you draw and whether the income is sustainable. With the right documents and a properly motivated application, self-employed doesn’t have to mean declined.

Let Phoenix Bonds package the numbers properly and make the banks compete.

13/09/2026

You don’t need to know everything about bonds. That’s our job.

But there are three things you really should know about your buyer:

🏠 Residency status
💍 Marital status
📊 Credit status

Why? Because any one of these can stop a home loan application in its tracks.

Know the three. Let us handle the rest.

And keep an eye out for our upcoming Hannah Explains Bonds training series, kicking off next week, where we’ll unpack each of these.

18/08/2026

Commission disclosure is coming to home loans the way it already came to insurance. Good. Buyers deserve to know how a free service gets paid, and whether it affects their deal.

Here's exactly how bond originator commission works, and why it doesn't touch your rate.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-bond-originators-actually-get-paid-hannah-van-deventer-qnr8f/