How We Review Lenders

Every lender, broker and funding provider featured on PrimeCompare passes the same checks before it appears on this site — and gets removed the same way if it stops passing them. This page is our methodology, published so you can hold us to it.

Step 1 — NCR registration, verified

South African credit providers must be registered with the National Credit Regulator (NCR). Before any lender is featured, we verify a current NCR registration (NCRCP number) or, for brokers, that they route applications exclusively to registered providers. Unregistered lenders are never featured, whatever they pay. If a featured provider's registration lapses, the listing comes down.

Step 2 — What we actually assess

Our reviews weigh five things a borrower can verify for themselves: total cost of credit (rate plus initiation and service fees, per the National Credit Act caps), speed and simplicity of the application and payout, transparency (whether fees and terms are clear before you sign), flexibility (early settlement, payment breaks), and track record (complaint patterns and how the lender resolves them). Star ratings on our review pages reflect those criteria — not commission rates.

Step 3 — How we make money, and why it doesn't move ratings

PrimeCompare earns a referral commission from some partners when a reader applies through our links, at no cost to the reader. Commission determines whether we can afford to run the site — it does not determine ratings or rankings, and lenders cannot pay for a better review. Where a page features a partner prominently, the required disclosure appears on that page. Full details are in our disclosure.

Step 4 — The update cadence

Rates, fees and lending criteria change. Featured pages are reviewed on a rolling monthly cycle, and material changes — a lender pausing new loans, a rate cap change, a regulatory action — are corrected as they happen rather than waiting for the sweep. Every review page carries the year in its title for a reason: if it says 2026, it has been checked against 2026 terms.

What we will never do

We never feature unregistered lenders. We never present a loan as the answer to over-indebtedness — if you are struggling, start with debt review, debt consolidation or our guide on getting out of debt. And we never collect your banking login details on this site — applications happen on the lender's own secure platform.

Spotted something outdated or incorrect? Tell us via the contact page — verified corrections are applied to the live site.