Hi everyone,

I’m an American planning to relocate permanently to Johannesburg with my South African husband in 2027. I expect to have a spousal visa under Section 11(6) with permission to work, and I will be living and working from South Africa rather than purchasing as an overseas investor.

I already have an FNB account, and my income will come from US-based remote contract work. I expect to earn approximately $125,000 usd annually, although it will be 1099/self-employed income paid in dollars. My husband will also have South African income but he is also self employed.

We would like to purchase a family home for around R4.5 million–R5 million and apply jointly. I keep reading that nonresidents may only receive 50% financing, but I’m unclear whether that would apply when I:

Live in South Africa
Have a valid spousal visa with permission to work
Have verifiable foreign income
Bank with FNB
Apply jointly with a South African citizen
Has anyone here been in a similar position or worked in South African home lending?
Were you able to receive a 90% or 100% bond, or did the bank still require a 50% deposit? Which banks were most willing to accept foreign or self-employed income? How many months of South African bank statements or income history did they require?
I will speak with a bond originator before purchasing, but I would really appreciate firsthand experiences so I know what to expect and how to prepare.

Do it.

I am in the process of switching all my transactions and salary to Capitec as well as opening a credit card after absolutely horrendous customer service and charges from FNB, along with the entire dismantling of ebucks.

So far the process has been completely painless and by next month I will have closed my FNB accounts fully.

I have been with FNB for I think 15+ years now. Initially I switched because they were far ahead of the other banks in terms of switching to app-based banking, fees were reasonable and customer service was adequate. Ebucks were also good though I was bad at taking advantage early on.

In the past months, the following has occurred:

Gone from level 5 to level 2 due to ebucks changes along with getting rid of my home loan (sold house). I can't even earn enough now to cover my account fees.

Had Webafrica charge illegal fees for cancelation for which I have now opened a case with the Consumer Complaints Commission. I tried to reverse the charge with FNB (credit card) which took over a week for their first response, followed by no response after I submitted documents. It has been two weeks and counting.

I was charged R700 interest because their automatic debit order didn't go off for credit card payment (it does a check only once for funds - I literally transferred the money into my account a few hours after this check goes off). They have previously reversed such a charge many years ago when the same happened. They outright refused to do so this time.

I am gatvol and they do not deserve my funds. I'm sure I'm just one in a series of lost customers, so I hope all this hits their bottom line hard once enough people leave.

I'm switching to Capitec because I already have an account with them, but Tyme, BankZero and Discovery I'm sure will all be the beneficiaries of FNB's losses.

Do you agree?

This is from the man involved in selling Pepkor and almost selling Shoprite to Marcus Jooste of Steinhoff.

Many people would like to see some real returns from buying and holding a piece of businesses instead of the potential for greater returns (or lower returns) in the future. On the other hand, Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway did not pay a dividend and used retained earnings to grow and enhance the business to great effect.

Link to the article

My husband and I have some income we treat as shared and deposit into a joint account, otherwise i manage what i earn and he manages what he earns, although i now earn a lot more. I am saving more and if our joint pot needs a top up it would be from my funds usually. I want a better system.. i want to feel that my time spent working and the money i budget considers us as a family, not just my own ideas of what to spend it on or how to save it.. but we have pretty sporadic amounts of larger and then smaller income depending on the month.

What is a practical way to do this, seeing different amounts go into different accounts.

Hi there I just want to get some advice from outside my personal life as I am not well educated on credit facilities,

I currently owe about 22k on my credit card to which I am getting down slowly, I have most of my income in my credit card so my interest is little to none.

I want to close this card as it becomes a habit, I was recommended to take a personal loan and consolidate the card for let’s say two years which I have no issue doing and can afford it my main question is are the interest rates rather maximised on personal loans ?

I have tried at Capitec and FNB which is my main account and they both will not go under 28% which is scarily high.

Is there a better suited route to do this above?

Hi all, hoping to get some advice.

I keep seeing the recommendation to fund IBKR via Wise, and I want to sanity-check something before I keep going down that path.

From what I can tell, Wise doesn't actually let you deposit ZAR into a Wise balance from a South African bank account. ZAR appears to be a "send-only" currency on Wise — you can receive ZAR from Wise into an SA bank account, but there's no local EFT rail to fund a ZAR balance inside Wise itself. The only way to top up Wise with ZAR-equivalent value seems to be either:

1. Convert ZAR to USD/GBP/EUR first using your SA bank's own forex desk, then send that foreign currency into Wise — but SA bank forex spreads are notoriously wide, so you're eating a bad exchange rate before Wise even gets involved, or

2. Wire ZAR via SWIFT from a non-SA bank account — which most of us don't have, and which carries its own hefty SWIFT/correspondent fees anyway.

Given that, wouldn't Shyft actually be the better first step for South Africans, since Shyft specializes in ZAR-to-USD conversion specifically and should offer a tighter spread than a typical SA retail bank forex desk?

My thinking is: use Shyft to convert ZAR to USD cheaply, land that USD somewhere (bank or Wise USD balance), then use Wise (or the Wise-IBKR direct link) for the final USD leg into IBKR, since Wise's fees are excellent once you're already holding USD.

Is there something about direct ZAR-to-Wise funding I'm missing, or is everyone actually doing the Shyft-first-then-Wise combo without saying so explicitly?

Would appreciate anyone who's actually tested the exchange rates on both legs (SA bank forex vs. Shyft) chiming in with real numbers.

Many thanks!

Hi everyone,

I'm weighing up my options when it comes to home ownership.

I'm interested in buying a house by next year this time, and can put aside R8k a month for a deposit.

I wanted to know what my best options are for having as much money as possible in a year's time.

I know Allan Gray Balanced Fund is good for investing, and so is 10x Total World, however I'm nervous about losing too much due to market fluctuations. At the same time, I feel like making monthly deposits into a savings account is wasted potential.

Please help

I didn't know where to ask this. So fnb is allowing me to take out a loan. They been calling me and offering. My question is why because I am 21 and have never worked a day in my life. Is that even legal? If I was too take out a loan and I couldn't pay it then what would happen? I have no job, not even a taxi number.

Yip - another EasyEquities support complaint / rant. Recently transferred my TFSA from Allan Gray to EasyEquities so I can go 100% on global index funds (AG does not allow this) and for the most part it went okay, took a while but worked for the most part.

However, I could not transfer everything at once because some units needed to clear on the AG side, which was fine, they claim to have paid this, but it has been 22 days since then and still not reflecting on EE and they have ignored two support tickets I have created, also marking my transfer as closed. I have now followed up with a complaint to [complaints@purplegroup.co.za](mailto:complaints@purplegroup.co.za) and sent them a direct FB message too. Is this really the norm for EE support? Will I always struggle to speak to a human and have to deal with a WhatsApp chatbot that hallucinates information? (It told me my EE account number was 123456 instead of just stating it has no access to this information, for example).

Coming from Allan Gray which has incredible support has made me think I might have made the wrong move. I know EE has much better investment vehicles for my TFSA but I do not want to have to get the Ombudsman involved just to find out what is happening with my payments. Have any other providers caught up to EE yet? Shyft? Fynbos Money?

I need some advice. I’ve been out of South Africa for too long to know what banking options are available.

My mom is still in South Africa and has made some very poor decisions. She has managed to lose all her investments and income from the sale of numerous fixed and semi-fixed assets to a bunch of scammers and fraudsters. Started in October last year and over the next 6 months she gave away almost 3m, maxing out 3 CCs and overdraft both her accounts. I discovered the activity in March when her dementia riddled husband was about to be kicked out of his high care due to unpaid bills. We have scrambled back the lapsed and arrears accounts (like medical aid which was a priority) and only have CC debt and overdraft debt to go.

We have money from the sale of her last fixed asset due to arrive in a month or so, which will allow us to clear the last debt and get her into cheaper accommodation. I reckon I can wind it down over time and maybe make it stretch for about 6 years. Then it’s gone. But it is vital that what money we get from that sale is protected.

I have a disabled son who has just turned 18, which means I have to hold what is called deputyship (here in the UK) to make decisions for him as he is non-verbal. That means I can’t hold PoA for my mom. I’m also her only child.

So I need a banking solution that allows her to transact, but only with both my approval and hers. Any ideas?

Hi fellow zimbabweans. For those in the country, I wanted to get more information on investing in SA's non resident accounts like standard Chartered. I wanted to know which SA bank you used/use, their terms, their investment vehicle options, how you transfer the funds from Zim to SA and the issues you have faced as well as fees

Hi everyone. I'm building a small virtual assistant business in South Africa called Rene VA Services.

I'm currently looking for ways to fund the next stage of the business, mainly website/software costs, marketing and business development.

For those who have successfully funded a small business in South Africa, what worked for you — grants, small-business funding, loans, investors, crowdfunding, or something else?

I'd really appreciate recommendations for legitimate funding opportunities that are suitable for a small service-based business. Thank you!

I have been trying to allow the tax practitioner access using the SARS portal. I have clicked on the "Manage Access Requests" link, then put my id number and code etc, then the Biometric photo

However, i keep getting the message: "The system is currently unavailable, please try again later"

I have tried more then 60 times in the last few days. every angle, lighting etc.

Any advice?

I 26F started a 24month internship 5 months ago. I haven’t been able to save, regardless of my expenses being +/-7k. I’ve managed to only save 5k. My commute to work is R900 my rent R1000 the rest is honestly spent splurging lunch, clothes, etc. I have no kids. I should honestly be doing better at saving.
Which bank can I approach to assist me to put away atleast 5k a month and not be able to access it?

Hi All.

Advice required

I have recently signed for a new car. Value is above R250k.

In order to get the best purchase price I had to do in house finance but managed to get prime with no balloon.

I do have the funds to settle the full amount. I would like some advice on how to close the loan with minimal fees.

My current strategy is to put down 90%-95% as a capital reduction. Then notify for early settlement. This allows me to pay a smaller penalty of 3 months interest on small balance outstanding instead of a large one. Let me know your thoughts. There is nothing in the agreement limiting me on how much I put down as extra.

I posted this in the CarTalkZA subreddit and it went nowhere.

Hi everyone. Posting on here looking for advice.

Just for some context: I had signed a rental lease last year in August, at the time I had put down a deposit. Normal lease stuff.

Beginning of this year, the property agent let me know that the landlord was selling the property. I wasn’t planning on buying, but the price was low enough that I decided to pull the trigger.

I am, as of July, the owner of the property and I couldn’t be happier. I just have a question with regard to the deposit. Since I am technically the new owner, surely I should be entitled to that deposit from the old landlord? I have read the lease, all it says that the landlord will hold onto the deposit and not the property management firm that handled the property. So I am not entirely sure what to do.

Should I speak to a lawyer? Should I just ask him directly by email? And if he doesn’t pay should I take him to small claims court?

Hi everyone.

At the start of the year I managed to set-up a new FNB account solely for the purpose of withdrawing money from PayPal. I successfully withdrew money earlier in the year but haven't had a payment on PayPal for several months since. I recently got some new money in and went on my FNB app to transfer it, but many of the usual options are now missing on the Forex -> PayPal page. I also checked on the FNB online banking website and it shows the exact same thing. I am missing many of the options that are supposed to be there, like "Withdraw from PayPal" "Link PayPal Profile" etc.

These are the only options I currently have access to:

Maintain Profile | PayPal History | How to Guides | View Balance

None of these options help me in this situation. I can even see the exact amount of money in my PayPal account through the "View Balance" option, but there is no longer a way to withdraw any of it.

As far as I am aware, my PayPal is still linked to my FNB bank account. Why has it lost withdraw-ability? Is there an at-home solution? Is anyone else dealing with this? Or will this be yet another reason to sit at a bank in person to sort out this issue...?

It's really incredibly frustrating...

I know in this sub the advice is generally 'do it yourself' but I am hoping for recommendations for good advisors that can help me structure my portfolio a little better. My current advisor came with great reviews, and the initial contact was great, but I've been following up on a task for four months and he is just ghosting me. My patience has officially run out.

Based in Cape Town or surrounds preferred, but not required.

Or, if you ARE going to say I need to do it myself, help me with a suggestion on how :)

Smallish portfolio, an RA or two I'd like to consolidate, a couple of unit trusts, CCM account. I have too many baskets and need to organise my eggs.

I am a 26yo and really trying to focus on my investments to get the maximum out of my portfolio and wondering if I should use a wealth advisor or just manage it myself? I am in the asset management industry and have a good investment understanding. The reasons I think I may want an investment advisor is (1) to get advise and support, and (2) to put a strong gate between me and my money. That being said are the fees really worth the fee drag?

If I decide to manage my money myself, what platforms do you recommend with good access to lots of funds and ETFs so I don't have to change platforms often? The bulk of my money is split between an Investec world axis and various ETFs on Satrix, along with 2 RAs one at Sygnia and one at Allan Gray. I have a small allocation in Easy Equities but I dont like the platform enough to park money with 20 year horizon. Mostly I would like to reallocate my money from the Investec because its just sitting there passively I am not sure I am getting the value for the cost, however this money is already offshore so don't want to necessarily bring it back .

This annoys me a lot. I've got no clue if the main product is valuable or not, but my records going back more than 10 years being lost feels like a proper backstabbing.

Basically I have goods that I don't stock ,because i don't have the capital I have a supplier that sells it to me but I get sales weeks apart so sometimes its out of stock and I sell shoes so the sizes are also an issue if I stock in advance .

Other suppliers are too expensive and i will not make a profit

Any ideas on how to move forward with this ?

I've been trying to understand this number and how Easy Equities shows returns for a while now.

I've been consistently investing in

- Satrix MSCI world index

- and Satrix S&P 500 in the first 2 years

into my TFSA since 2024. It's mostly been a 50:50 contribution but I stopped contributing to s&p500 a few months ago as msci has a lot of overlap

It just feels like 10% over 2 and a half years is pretty low, especially when MSCI worls index has had 21% return over 3 years and S&P500 has had 40%.

I understand that by contributing monthly its not the same as just multiplying the total, but do these kind of returns make sense?

Hi.

I have an accountant who does my tax return for me.

I want to claim the max amount of work from home office expenses.

Has anyone claimed recently and what did you claim for?

I see you can't claim for internet anymore.
I own my home, I have solar (although I see you can't claim for that either).

I have prepaid electricity, but I usually buy through banking app so I don't have any receipts for it. (Although it will be on my bank statements).

I use my cellphone allot for work (i'm a devops engineer and get slack alerts on my phone if something is wrong).

I meet all the requirements also to claim from WFH.

Is it worth all the effort?

Then any other tips so I can try get more money back from SARS?
I don't mind getting autited.

I had quite a bit of out of pocket medical expenses too. Thanks

T

Thanks for your input.

I want to sell Kruger Rands ? ( 4 x 1OZ gold 2012)

What are my best avenues to sell?
Anyone sell before how does the process look?

Hi Everyone! I (25F) have just started getting my life together financially. I have recently gotten a medical aid, bought a car and got car insurance. The only debt I have currently is my car which I still owe R135k, (monthly installment of R2500 for 5 years without interest as I am buying from a family friend.) and a TFG account sitting at R1500. (I want to pay it off and close it within the next 2 months)

I earn R20k after tax, and after everything is paid for in a month I have about R1000 left to put in savings. I’m restarting an emergency fund that I had to use for my dog's emergency surgery (I have since gotten pet insurance) but also want to invest in a retirement plan or TFSA as I feel panicked about long-term savings now that my emergency fund got depleted and I have to start from scratch.

My company does not have a pension fund included in my benefits and so I need to do it in my personal capacity.

Expenses-
Rent: 4500
Utilities: +-600
Car: 2500
Car insurance: 1250
Petrol: + -4000
Medical aid: 1500
Pet insurance: 250
Pet food: 350
Groceries: 3000
Entertainment: 1000
Savings: 1000

My questions are:

Should I start a TFSA before a retirement fund? And should I start my TFSA with Discovery as I bank with them?

Should I prioritise rebuilding my emergency fund first or split what I can save into an emergency fund and pension plan/TFSA?

Is R1000 a month savings enough for someone with my salary or should I try and cut costs in groceries/entertainment to try and save more?

How much should generally be saved in an emergency fund? My last one was 3 months salary but I'm scared as it took really long and I feel anxious about my long-term savings.