Don’t fall for Sun Finance scam

I WAS in a tough position in March and approached Sun Finance (huge mistake, should have done my homework, it appears after googling) for a loan against my Toyota under the guise that I could keep my vehicle if a Tracker was installed.

I borrowed R40000, which should have been for a month (March 10 to April 10) and was told R52000 would need to be paid back.

I thought it exorbitant but was desperate and went ahead. I was unable to pay on April 10 with the whole Covid19 issue; I was told if I paid R12000 it

FOUR of us booked a holiday to Maldives in October last year, with Travel Dreams. We were supposed to travel in May 2020 and had done our final payment in March. Total amount was just over R150 000 for the four of us.

Due to Covid-19 we obviously couldn’t travel and we opted to delay the trip to year end or 2021. To be clear, we never asked for a refund.

Travel Dreams insisted that this would not be an issue and the hotel had received a deposit. We then received a media notice stating that they had gone into self-liquidation at the end of May.

I immediately contacted the hotel could be extended by another month.

I was only able to do that early May and could not do it again due to lack of funds.

I was not unduly harassed or treated unfairly, but had to sell my car and settle them. I had to pay over R63 960 (July 6) plus the R12 000 (early May) for a R40000 loan?

So they almost doubled their money off me in less than four months. I am 100% responsible, as I signed, but my research now shows this is against the National Credit Act and is exorbitant and illegal. I did check that they were registered with the National Credit Regulator (NCR), which they are; their certificate was valid till the end of July.

I came across the following article below and it’s clear that despite this being reported to the NCR, they have been allowed to continuously operate illegally. Many people are using pawn shops because they are in a more desperate situation, and they are clearly taking advantage of this. It is my fault and I should have been wiser.

I did not raise this with them or complain directly to them, but I believe something has to be done about this as they are clearly operating illegally and many consumers are being ripped off.

The NCR has to step in as this has been brought to your attention.

Georgie: It’s shocking that Sun Finance has managed to retain its NCR registration, despite flouting the NCA so brazenly.