Romanians find it hard to pay back loans

Debts in the payment of loans in euro and Swiss francs went up more rapidly in January than in 2009, while the payment delays over 30 days advanced by 14.7% against December, at 3.26 billion lei, according to BNR. Thus, after a monthly increase of debts in euro loans under 100 million lei in 2009, in the first month of this year the delays longer than 30 days for this category of loans had an important increase, by 155 million lei, at 1.02 billion lei.

The statistics published by the BNR on the basis of the data from the Credit Bureau, shows that in January an increase of delays over the average of the previous year for the category of loans offered in other currencies, which are denominated for the most part in Swiss francs. The sums which were delayed for payment over 30 days almost doubled, from 133 million lei in December at 250 million lei.
To notice is that in the first month of the year, the national currency appreciated against the euro as well as against the Swiss Franc, which means that expressed in the basic currency, the delays had superior dynamics to the rhythms shown in the BNR statistics.

Delays in loans in lei keep the first place, with a volume of 1.97 billion lei, with 147 million lei over the level at the end of last year. The number of non-payers did not advance significantly, as there are 1,041,649 clients with payment delays, with 28,279 more than in December, but the average sum of the new clients is substantially higher, somewhere at 14,800 lei/client. Under these conditions, the average debt went up from 2,804 lei/loan at 3,130 lei/loan. The majority of the debts are delays of over 90 days, with a total of 2.44 billion lei, against 2.19 billion lei in December.