Consumer association Deco today expressed "some concern" about an increase in consumer credit which has returned to the worrying levels of 2011.
The orgaisation’s concern is for overstretched households and the "many difficulties" that the country still faces.
The amount of new consumer credit advances granted to individuals in March was nearly as much as recorded in early 2011, a few months before the Troika came to town and things have never been the same.
The March data from the Bank of Portugal show that loans worth €272 million were given to householders at a time when overall the country has a high level of household debt.
According to Deco, the number of families in trouble who have asked for its help this year, about 7,500, is similar to 2014 and "much higher than the number recorded in 2012 and 2013."
In the first quarter of this year, 30% of the cases were due to unemployment and the deterioration of the employment situation, 8% because of divorce/separation, 12% due to seizures of property and bank accounts by the state, 10% because of a change in household, 7% by illness and 3% because the householders were acting as guarantor for someone else’s debt.
These families "still have no ability to remedy their financial situation," according to Deco.
Banks and other lenders say that they generally have been more cautious in lending to households due to the high level of default but still the overall figure is on the increase with around 30% of the loans approved being for new cars.
