The percentage of indebted families (with debts in arrears or not) in Brazil reached 66.5% in January this year, staying above the rates of December 2020 (66.3%) and January last year (65.3%). The data is from the National Survey of Consumer Indebtedness and Delinquency, released today (18), in Rio de Janeiro, by the National Confederation of Trade of Goods, Services and Tourism (CNC).
The percentage of defaulters, i.e. families with debts or overdue bills, reached 24.8%, down from 25.2% in December, but up from 23.8% in January last year.
Families who will not be able to pay their bills added up to 10.9% of the total, down from 11.2% in December, but up from 9.6% in January 2020.
“With the end of the [emergency] aid and the delay in the vaccination calendar, lower-income families will need to adopt greater rigour in organising their budgets. This situation makes credit play an even more important role in income recomposition. We must continue to expand access to resources with lower costs, but also extend the payment terms of debts to keep delinquency under control,” said economist responsible for the survey, Izis Ferreira.
Credit cards
According to the CNC, the percentage of credit card debt among the total number of people with debts reached 80.5%, a record high.In January last year, the rate was 79.8%. Other main reasons for debt in January this year were: installment plans (16.8%), car loans (9.9%) and personal loans (8.4%).The average time with overdue payments reached 63.3 days and the average time committed to debt stood at 6.9 months, the CNC said.
Original Story: Agência Brasil | Vitor Abdala
Photo: Photo by Bruno Neves in FreeImages.com
Translation: Prime Yield