2023-07-16 22:12:04
2023 has not been an easy year for Colombians. High interest rates, the volatility of the dollar and unemployment are some of the main causes for the complex financial situation of families and lead them to seek alternatives that allow them to meet their obligations.
And some of those options are non-conventional loans, better known as ‘drop by drop’, which in recent months have become widespread in the country, but in the end they end up being worse, since the high interest rates end up drowning those who request them more. .
Economic distress leads people to go into debt to cover their expenses. | Photo: Peter Dazeley, Getty Images
According to the Financial Superintendency, as of March 2023, Colombians and companies are owing banks close to $673 billion.
Although 95.7% of debtors make efforts to respond on time for their financial commitments, the Superintendency pointed out that in recent months the situation is becoming more complicated for many and the overdue portfolio reached the figure of $29 billion, in March from 2023; $1.4 trillion more than what was registered in February. If compared to March 2022, the balance increased 12% across the country.
What is the type of credit with which Colombians are most indebted to banks?
In this sense, Asobancaria also raised the alarm about the economic situation in the country, since only between January and February 2023 companies and Colombians used their credit cards to make purchases for figures close to $7 trillion.
Many families are hanging with their loans in banking entities.
Strata 2 and 3 the most indebted
The high cost of living, which has barely moderated, reaching 12.13% in June, the high interest rates and the hardening of banks in granting credit have taken their toll on the pockets of Colombians, who have seen in trouble to meet its financial obligations with banks and other financial institutions.
According to the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, between April 2022 and the same month of this year, the total value of overdue debts (overdue for more than 30 days) of people with banks totaled $31 billion, representing an annual increase of 18.7%. Meanwhile, in month-on-month terms, an increase in the overdue balance of $1.9 trillion was reported.
Regarding delinquent consumer loans, which include vehicle loans, payroll, credit cards and free investment, these were the ones that most pressured that balance in the red, with an annual increase of more than 57.5%. On the other hand, the arrears in microcredits grew 5.56% annually, after 20 months in negative territory.
In contrast, the housing and commercial modalities reported negative variations of 8.2% and 4.6%, respectively.
A recent study carried out by DataCrédito Experian showed that the number of credit operations in Colombia fell 8% between January and April 2023, compared to the same month last year.
“This means that, while in 2021 and 2022 there was a growth of 32.3%, going from 12.6 million operations to 16.7 million, by the beginning of this year the number of credits was reduced to 15 4 million,” the report said.
High interest rates are also the cause of people becoming more and more indebted. | Photo: Photo: Getty Images
Clariana Carreño, president of Experian for Colombia and Mexico, explained that this reduction is due, on the one hand, to the increase in interest rates on loans, generated by the monetary policy of the Bank of the Republic of increasing rates to control high inflation. ; and on the other hand, the deterioration reported by the Financial Superintendency of Colombia, of certain types of portfolio that leads to restricting the credit policy in some entities.
The study also showed that the lower strata were the ones that requested the most loans in the first four months of the year. “Laters 2 and 3 are the ones with the highest participation with 29.7% and 37.1%, respectively. Two out of every five loans were granted at the beginning of 2023 to the lowest socioeconomic strata of the Colombian population,” the report indicated.
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