The increased cost of living is the main reason for an overdrawn account and the use of expensive overdrafts. This is the result of a representative forsa survey commissioned by the market observation agency of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv).
According to this, around one in seven consumers used an overdraft facility from the beginning of September to the beginning of December 2022 - almost half cited the increased cost of living as the reason for this. The vzbv sees this as a risk of over-indebtedness for consumers and calls on politicians to take action.
Increasing overdrafts in the last year
“The increased cost of living poses a risk of over-indebtedness for consumers and is driving more and more people to take out an overdraft facility. However, this is far too expensive a loan to compensate for medium or long-term financial bottlenecks. Politicians must act here and protect consumers from the overdraft becoming a cost trap.”
vzbv board member Ramona Pop
Overdrafts are usually very expensive. According to a survey by the financial magazine Biallo from the end of 2022, the average interest rate was 10.07 percent - that is almost twice as high as consumer loans with a fixed interest rate of 1 to 5 years. These comparatively high interest rates lead to significant costs if used over the long term.
The vzbv calls on the federal government to encourage only short-term use of the overdraft facility, to avoid unjustified costs and to ensure effective help in the event of over-indebtedness. What is needed, among other things, is a limit on the overdraft limit, a ban on compound interest to prevent skyrocketing interest rates and easier access to free debt advice.
The survey results in detail:
- 14 percent of all respondents aged 18 and over have used their overdraft facility or overdrawn their account in the last three months.
- Almost half (48 percent) of those surveyed with an overdraft or overdraft stated that higher costs - for example for living expenses or energy - were the reason for this.
- 9 percent of all respondents aged 18 and over do not see themselves in a position to be able to bear the increased cost of living in the long term and have to go into debt.
- 14 percent of those surveyed with an overdraft or overdraft expect that their account will only be rebalanced after more than six months
Method
Representative telephone multi-topic survey (December 8th to 12th, 2022) by forsa on behalf of vzbv. Base: 1,002 people aged 18 and over. Statistical error tolerance: max. ± 3 percentage points.
Source:
Federal Association of Consumer Organizations
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