High demand for consumer loans – The reasons

By Leonidas Stergiou

To be precise, the “Save” and replacement programs for electrical appliances, combined with the home equipment markets since the mortgage boom in the fourth quarter of 2021, boost demand and consumer loan disbursements, despite the brake on the car market. However, the latter may be tired of gasoline – new and used, due to shortages, but there is an increase in electricity, which is also driven by banking programs.

Disbursements of consumer loans would be even higher if the banks did not keep the credit criteria unchanged. According to banks, almost 1 in 2 applications are rejected. In addition, small amounts of money have been given a big boost to consumers, through mobile phone applications, the so-called fast loans. Compared to last year, the average amount has increased and is around 1,000 to 1,500 euros, compared to 600-800 euros. Emergencies and obligations have contributed to this, mainly due to high electricity tariffs.

Also, a large part of consumer loans come from cooperating retail chains and include household equipment. But despite the slowdown, the highest amount of all consumer loans, at least in the first half, came from the car market. In particular, of the total disbursements of 85 million euros, 60 million euros related to car purchases, with an average amount of 10-15,000 euros.

With these data and on the condition that there will be no serious deterioration in consumer confidence, as at the beginning of the year, banks have not changed their annual targets for consumer loans. Nevertheless, they do not expect a significant improvement in consumer confidence, as long as they insist on accuracy and uncertainty from the war.

Since the start of the first quarter, the goals of the four systemic banks in consumer credit predict:

– Total disbursements for 2022 are expected to be around 1 billion to 1.1 billion euros, ie about 100-150 million euros lower than mortgage disbursements.

– Loans from banks themselves and digital channels (mobile app), without collateral, are expected to amount to 550 million euros, ie about 70-80 million euros higher than 2021.

– Consumer loans through cooperating chains are projected to move higher than last year by about 60 million, ie around 240-250 million euros.

– In the car market, consumer loans will remain relatively stable, reaching 300 million, compared to 280 million euros last year.