The volume of loans still not repaid over 30 days after their due date by individuals with less than 200 million (5,150 euros) in exposure, rose by 12% in December for a total of 686bn ROL (17.7 million euros), the Banking Risk Central Office data show.
Overdue loans surged by more than 80% since August when the Banking Risk Central Office started monitoring the so-called consumer credits, while the number of clients that fell behind with their instalments increased by 35%.
If calculated in euros, the monthly growth is of almost 16%, considering the ROL appreciation. At the same time, the number of individuals with overdue loans went up 10%, to a total of 145,983 people. On the other hand, the total credits granted to the population (consumer plus mortgage loans) rose by nearly 5% to 112,000bn ROL (2,900 million euros) in December. The National Bank officials say that albeit on the rise, the share of the population’s overdue loans in the total consumer credits remains low and is no reason for concern. The data are comparable to those recorded by the Credit Bureau, which had counted a total of 654bn ROL (17.6 million euros) in overdue loans. The Bureau officials pointed out that the number of people that have overdue loans with at least two banks exceeds 11,000, though going down.
Overdue loans in ROL account for the largest share in the total, 88%, amounting to 605bn ROL (15.6 million euros), up nearly 12% from November.
Overdue credits in euros totalled 58bn ROL (1.5 million euros), 21% higher than in November. The high growth pace is partly due to the reduced comparison base. In case of loans taken out in dollars, the overdue credits amount to 23bn ROL (0.6 million euros), up 9% from November. liviu.chiru@zf.ro