· Updated · Built around the Credit card repayment calculator
Photo: Norma Mortenson on Pexels (free licence)
No investment reliably earns what a credit card charges. Under the National Credit Act a South African card may charge up to the repo rate plus 14% - {{cc}} a year today. Every rand you put on that balance is a guaranteed, tax-free return at that rate. That is why debt comes first, and the emergency fund that keeps you out of debt comes straight after.
Pay a little more, save a lot
The chart pays off the same balance two ways: a small payment, and a bigger one. Nothing new is spent on the card.
A simple order of work
- 1. Stop the balance growing. Take the card out of your wallet until it is paid off - the sums only work if nothing new goes on it.
- 2. Keep a small buffer - even R2 000 to R5 000 - so a flat tyre does not go straight back on the card.
- 3. Pay off the most expensive debt first: store cards and credit cards, then personal loans, then the car. Pay the minimum on the rest. The pay off debt or save calculator compares the rates for you.
- 4. Then build the emergency fund to three to six months of essential costs, in an account you can reach in a day or two.
- 5. Then invest - the compound interest calculator shows why starting early matters, and a tax-free savings account is the natural next step.
Your card, exactly
Then the emergency fund
Three months of essential spending is a common target - it is a rule of thumb, not a sourced statistic. Put your own number in: the monthly saving that gets you there, with interest on the savings account (the savings goal calculator):
Sources
- Maximum interest on credit facilities (credit and store cards, overdrafts) = repo rate + 14% a year: National Credit Regulations, regulation 42(1) Table A, as amended by GN R1080 of 6 May 2016 (acts.co.za).
- Repo rate {{repo}} from 25 September 2026: SARB MPC statement. Rate as at 16 October 2026.
- Monthly service fee cap R{{svc}} including VAT: National Credit Regulations, regulation 44, as used in the CalcSA credit card calculator.
- Not verified from a primary source: the emergency fund target and the savings account rate - both are rules of thumb you should set yourself.
Calculators used in this post
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