2023-12-05 18:11:41
Published on Dec 5 2023 at 5:01 p.m. Updated Dec 5 2023 at 5:11 p.m.
Despite still robust inflation which weighs on purchasing power, the financial situation of the French has not deteriorated during the first months of the year. The share of households with bank overdrafts at least once during the month, and for three consecutive months in August 2023, has even declined slightly compared to what it was before the health crisis, according to an INSEE study published this Tuesday.
It thus goes from 26% in the first half of 2019 to 24% in the first half of 2023. The share of households overdrawn for five days also falls, from 23.7% in March 2019 to 22% in August of this year.
Postal Bank customers
“We are not observing a generalized increase in financial insecurity,” summarizes Lionel Wilner, head of the “Redistribution and social policies” division at INSEE. “Households seem to be controlling their spending,” he explains. This is also evidenced by the decline in consumption since mid-2021.
To carry out its work, the Institute of Statistics analyzed anonymous data from the Postal Bank’s bank accounts, based on a sample of the establishment’s customers. “This is not necessarily representative of the sample of the entire population,” he specifies. The Postal Bank is in fact renowned for attracting a clientele that is a little less wealthy than the average.
The analysis of the accounts nevertheless reveals the heterogeneity of everyone’s situations. Behind a rather positive general situation already observed last year, there appears a significantly less favorable development for single-parent families who have seen their financial situation deteriorate since 2021: almost one in two (48% compared to 46 .2% in March 2019) was thus affected by a bank overdraft at least one day per month, for three months in a row between June and August 2023.
Difficult end of months
Likewise, 46% of households with income mainly from social or family benefits are affected. “Certain categories of households are a little more often overdrawn than before the health crisis, while others, such as RSA recipients, are a little less often,” underlines Lionel Wilner.
The study confirms the structural difficulty of Postal Bank customers in making ends meet. A quarter of households with a regular income, whether it is a salary or a benefit, are overdrawn the day before they receive it. A percentage which rises to 31% among the less well-off and even more than 40% for single-parent families or people dependent on social benefits. But among the establishment’s wealthiest clients, 23% also end the month overdrawn, a phenomenon which can be explained by the illiquidity of their assets according to INSEE.
Finally, INSEE highlights a clear “payslip effect”, especially among low-income households: the day following receipt of their income, they spend 3.6 times more than on an average day, when customers of the Postal Bank spend on average 2.1 times more. Result: the week following receipt of income, they have already spent “the equivalent of 11.2 days on average” indicates INSEE.
#inflation #share #French #people #financial #precariousness #falls #slightly