On 14 July 2026, VHT Attorneys attended the South African Credit and Risk Reporting Association’s (SACRRA) Member and Stakeholder Round Table on Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), sponsored by Altron FinTech. Regulators, industry bodies, legal practitioners and consumer representatives spent the day on one of the fastest-growing developments in consumer finance.
One message came through clearly: the question is no longer whether BNPL should exist, but how South Africa should regulate it responsibly.
A changing global credit landscape
Other jurisdictions are moving quickly. In Australia, BNPL providers have needed an Australian credit licence and membership of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority since 10 June 2025, following legislation that brought BNPL within the National Credit Code as a new category of “low cost credit contracts”. New Zealand introduced comparable responsible lending obligations for BNPL providers around the same time, in June 2025.
In the United Kingdom, the timing is pointed: from 15 July 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority begins regulating “deferred payment credit”, its term for BNPL, requiring affordability checks, clear pre-contract disclosure and access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The European Union’s Second Consumer Credit Directive will bring BNPL within its consumer credit regime from 20 November 2026.
The United States shows the other side of the coin. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau withdrew its 2024 interpretive rule, which had treated BNPL providers as credit card issuers, in May 2025, and federal BNPL regulation remains stalled. Oversight is left largely to a small number of states, including New York, that have introduced their own BNPL-specific licensing requirements.
South Africa currently sits outside this trend. BNPL largely falls outside the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 (NCA), leaving open questions around affordability assessment, credit reporting and consumer protection. Rather than calling for immediate regulation, most speakers favoured a measured, evidence-based approach, informed by what other jurisdictions have already learned.
Guardians of Fairness
Innovation should not be discouraged
A recurring theme was that regulation should guide responsible innovation, not stifle it. BNPL has improved access to retail purchases for many consumers and become an important tool for businesses operating in a digital economy. But innovation cannot come at the expense of transparency, fairness or responsible lending. Getting the balance right between financial inclusion and consumer protection will determine whether BNPL continues to serve both consumers and the broader economy.
Consumer behaviour and the Consumer Protection Act
South African law already recognises deferred payment: a lay-by, provided for under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA), lets a consumer pay first and collect the goods later. BNPL reverses that sequence, the consumer receives the goods immediately and pays afterwards, and speakers noted that this change in sequencing changes how consumers relate to both the purchase and the debt behind it.
The discussion also turned to returns: a consumer’s right of return should apply to BNPL-funded purchases in the same way it applies to a cash purchase. The point made repeatedly was that a consumer should not lose consumer protections simply because of how a purchase was financed.
Understanding the South African context
Several presenters stressed that policy must be built on reliable local data, not assumptions. South Africa’s economic backdrop is demanding: high unemployment, inflation pressure on household budgets, and millions of consumers with already impaired credit records. Key questions remain open, including who is using BNPL, whether affordability assessments are applied consistently, how many consumers default, what happens when they do, and whether BNPL is, on balance, improving financial inclusion or adding to over-indebtedness. Without reliable data, regulators risk regulating either too aggressively or too lightly.
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Where BNPL sits under the NCA
A significant part of the day dealt with where BNPL fits, if at all, within the NCA’s existing categories. One view raised was that BNPL could, in certain circumstances, fall within the NCA’s “incidental credit” construct once a payment lapses, though this remains an open question that turns on the NCA’s definition of credit. Panellists also noted that BNPL is structurally different from revolving credit: there is no continuous credit cycle, and the product was generally described as a budget-inclusion tool for discretionary (“want”) purchases, rather than a credit-building or “need”-focused one.
Providers on the panel indicated that default rates on BNPL products are low, and that the usual consequence of default is cancellation of the product rather than formal debt enforcement; recovery is generally pursued through ordinary civil process rather than the NCA’s mechanisms.
Consumer protection remains central
From the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud’s perspective, one principle held throughout the day: consumers using BNPL should have the same protections they would have using any other payment method, including fair treatment, clear disclosure, effective complaint resolution, transparent refunds and accessible dispute resolution. The Ombud also made the point that “blacklisting”, a term widely used by consumers, does not appear in the NCA at all, and that a consumer’s credit profile is better understood as a record that follows them through their financial life. As online shopping continues to grow, so does the need for consumer protection frameworks that keep pace with increasingly digital transactions.
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Credible credit information and dispute resolution
One of the closing sessions dealt with credit information integrity. At present, BNPL transactions are generally not reflected on consumers’ credit bureau profiles, because providers are not yet reporting this data to the bureaux. BNPL obligations are, for now, largely invisible within the credit reporting system.
That is changing. Industry stakeholders, through SACRRA, and the National Credit Regulator (NCR) have agreed on two unique account-type codes that will allow BNPL products to be classified and reported to registered credit bureaux, once the NCR’s guideline on this reporting is finalised and implementation timelines are confirmed.
Once BNPL data begins appearing on credit profiles, the ordinary rules on disputing credit information under section 72 of the NCA will apply. Consumers will be able to challenge inaccurate information, and providers will need to support what they report with objective, reliable and verifiable evidence, failing which the information must be corrected or removed within the prescribed timeframes. For both consumers and providers, this reinforces a simple point: accurate credit information is essential to confidence in South Africa’s credit market.
Collaboration will shape the future
Perhaps the greatest value of the round table was the willingness of regulators, industry, legal practitioners and consumer representatives to engage openly, and from a shared starting point rather than opposing corners. The objective is not to decide whether BNPL is inherently good or bad, but to build a framework that supports responsible innovation, protects consumers, promotes financial inclusion, provides regulatory certainty and maintains confidence in the financial system.
Our thoughts
As attorneys practising extensively in South Africa’s credit and consumer law environment, we found this an important discussion. Technology is changing how consumers access finance faster than legislation can typically adapt, which makes engagement between regulators, industry and legal practitioners more important, not less. VHT Attorneys welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the continued development of a fair, balanced and sustainable regulatory framework for BNPL in South Africa. This conversation has only just begun, and what is decided will shape consumer credit for years to come.
Key takeaways
– South Africa is taking a cautious, evidence-based approach to BNPL regulation, while other major markets move ahead; the UK’s new BNPL regime takes effect from 15 July 2026.
– International trends point towards greater oversight and responsible lending obligations, though the US shows that regulatory direction can also reverse.
– Consumer behaviour, not only legal principle, should inform how BNPL is regulated.
– SACRRA and the NCR have agreed reporting codes to bring BNPL onto credit bureau profiles; once implemented, the standard NCA dispute rights for credit information will apply.
– Collaboration between regulators, industry and legal practitioners will be essential to a workable regulatory framework.
Marno Du Plessis
Attorney