Microfinance & Fintech
Salary Advance Benefits for South African Employers
Give your staff a regulated, affordability-assessed alternative to informal lenders — payroll-deducted, POPIA-compliant, and at no cost to your business. You carry no credit risk.
The Case
Your Staff Are Already Borrowing. The Question Is From Whom.
Month-end timing gaps are a fact of working life, and employees facing one will find credit somewhere. Often that somewhere is an informal lender with no affordability assessment, no disclosure, no regulatory oversight and no recourse — and an employee trapped in that is a distracted, stressed, less productive employee who is more likely to leave.
A salary advance benefit replaces that with something regulated. Threerae is a registered credit provider under the National Credit Act, every application is assessed for affordability, every cost is disclosed in writing before signing, and repayment is a single deduction from the next salary rather than a rolling balance. Your staff get a legitimate option. You get to offer a benefit your people will actually use, without funding it.
What it costs you: nothing
Threerae funds the advances and carries the credit risk. The cost of credit sits with the employee who chooses to use the benefit, disclosed to them up front. Your contribution is payroll deduction and accurate employment data. You are not a guarantor and you are not lending to your own staff.
How It Works
What Each Side Does
You Provide Access
You make the benefit available to eligible staff and communicate it. We supply a compliance-checked communications kit so nothing goes out that oversells or misstates the product.
We Assess & Fund
Employees apply directly to us. We verify income, check multiple credit bureaux, assess affordability under the NCA and fund approved advances from our own capital.
Payroll Deducts
Repayment is deducted from the employee's next salary on their written authorisation and remitted to Threerae on the timeline agreed in the SLA.
No Employer Cost
No subscription, no per-employee charge, no funding requirement. The employer does not pay for the benefit and does not carry the credit risk.
POPIA-Governed Data
Data sharing runs under a Payroll Integration and Data-Sharing Agreement. We receive only what is needed to verify employment and process the deduction.
Reporting
Aggregate uptake and utilisation reporting so you can see whether the benefit is being used, without exposing individual employees' borrowing.
The Agreements
Three Documents, Nothing Hidden
What gets signed
- Employer Partnership Agreement (EPA) — the commercial terms of the relationship
- Payroll Integration & Data-Sharing Agreement — POPIA-compliant data handling
- Service Level Agreement (SLA) — deduction handling, remittance timelines, data accuracy, support standards
What we will discuss openly
- Payroll deduction mechanics within your existing process
- Remittance timelines and reconciliation
- Employee eligibility criteria
- Data accuracy responsibilities on both sides
- Any risk-sharing or volume arrangement you want to explore
Getting Started
Pilot First, Then Roll Out
We do not push for a full rollout on day one. A pilot on one site or division lets both sides test the deduction mechanics, the communications and the actual uptake before anything is scaled — and gives you real numbers rather than a projection when you take it to your own stakeholders.
The model suits mid-sized organisations of roughly 200 to 2,000-plus staff with a stable payroll cycle. If you sit outside that range, it is still worth a conversation — the constraint is payroll predictability, not headcount alone.
Questions
Employer Partnership FAQs
What does the employer pay?
Nothing. The benefit is funded by Threerae and the cost of credit sits with the employee who chooses to use it, disclosed to them in writing before they sign. The employer's contribution is payroll deduction and accurate employment data, not money.
Does the employer carry any credit risk?
No. Threerae is the credit provider, we perform the affordability assessment, and we carry the credit risk. The employer is not a guarantor and is not lending to its own staff. Where an employer wants a different structure with shared risk, that is a commercial conversation we are open to — but the standard model places no risk on you.
How does the payroll deduction work?
Repayment is deducted from the employee's next salary and remitted to Threerae on an agreed timeline set out in the Service Level Agreement. Deduction is only ever applied with the employee's written authorisation as part of their credit agreement. We work with your existing payroll process rather than asking you to change it.
What about employee data and POPIA?
Data sharing is governed by a Payroll Integration and Data-Sharing Agreement built for POPIA compliance. We receive only what is needed to verify employment and process the deduction, employees consent as part of their application, and personal information is processed lawfully and for that purpose only.
Which employers is this designed for?
It works best for mid-sized organisations of roughly 200 to 2,000-plus staff with a stable payroll cycle — typically in industries where employees face genuine month-end timing gaps. We generally start with a pilot on a single site or division rather than a full rollout.
Does this encourage staff to take on debt?
It is a fair question and the honest answer is that the design decides it. Every application goes through an affordability assessment under the National Credit Act, we decline or reduce advances that would over-extend an employee, and the product is a single next-payday repayment rather than a rolling facility that accumulates. The realistic alternative for most employees in a timing gap is an informal lender at far worse cost with no affordability assessment at all — and no recourse.
Related
Explore The Finance Platform
Salary Advance Loans
The employee-facing product — what your staff would actually be applying for, and what it costs them.
Platform Overview
How our microfinance, SMME finance and fintech capabilities fit together.
Fintech-as-a-Service
Technology-enabled financial infrastructure for businesses and financial-service providers.
Next Step
Talk To Threerae
Tell us your headcount, your industry and your payroll cycle, and we will set up an introductory call. If you already offer a financial-wellness benefit and want to compare, say so — we would rather have that conversation directly than pretend we are the only option.
Compliance Notice
Threerae is a registered credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act 34 of 2005. All lending applications are subject to affordability assessment and credit bureau checks. We lend responsibly.
Send An Enquiry
No commitment. We just need enough to start the conversation.