Are Belgians heavy borrowers? What is the total number of consumer credits currently active in our flat country? What about mortgage credits? What is the percentage of defaulted credits? Let’s learn more about the position of Belgians in terms of credit!
The NBB: A Wealth of Information
The National Bank of Belgium (NBB) has been the central bank of the country since 1850. In addition to issuing our coins and banknotes, it also carries out, among other things, a financial supervisory mission.
Occasionally, it reports a number of credit statistics thanks to the data that must be recorded in what is called the Central Office. Let’s take a closer look at the latest statistics in the following lines.
Get Informed Before Taking Out a Loan!
Mortgage Credit and Consumer Credit: The Numbers
The NBB tells us that the number of consumer credits amounted to 8,337,245 at the end of September 2017. As a reminder, Belgium has about 11,323,000 inhabitants, of which 9,028,000 are over 18 years old and therefore able to take out a credit.
The number of mortgage credits was 3,052,441 in September 2017, compared to 2,949,544 in the same period the previous year. While the figure remains impressive, it is worth noting a decrease of 3.5% in this area.
Of these 11,273,012 currently open credits, 4.8% are considered “defaulted”, which corresponds to 541,105 defaulted contracts. By “defaulted”, the NBB means credits for which payment delays have not been regularized. Furthermore, it is noted that consumer credits are more affected by these defaults (6.2%) than mortgage credits (1.1%).
In total, the cost of these unfulfilled credits amounts to over 3 million euros, with an average credit amount of 5,540€!
Credit Consolidation to Combat Over-indebtedness
It is not uncommon for a household or an individual to no longer be able to settle their debts. However, there is a solution to this problem: credit consolidation.
By opting for credit consolidation, all credits are merged into a single debt, distributed over several smaller monthly payments over an extended period. This can ease the burden on your budget!
For more information on credit consolidation, contact Credafin!
Source: NBB.
