Delinquencies are increasing. The microdata managed by the main financial entities in the country already indicate this and the statistics of the country are also beginning to collect it. Bank of Spain. In August, the sector’s arrears stood at 3.56%, slightly above the 3.5% it recorded in June and July.
The increase in inflation and the rise in interest rates have been taking their toll on the accounts of companies and especially households for months, which are the ones that have so far shown the greatest signs of showing the impact of the rise in the cost of living and erosion. of purchasing power. Defaults, in fact, are beginning to reflect an incipient increase.
The entities, although they are “dealing” with the situation, claim not to be excessively “concerned.” In part, because the rate remains at historic low levels and, despite the recent rebound, it remains below the 3.86% it marked in August 2022.
The CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortazar, recently described it as a “change in trend” that falls, above all, on mortgages and consumer loans. This was also reflected in the recent presentation of Bankinter’s results. The entity reported an increase of nine basis points in delinquencies, up to 2.2%, largely the result of the increase in delinquencies in consumer credit.
The total count of the credits considered doubtful -with at least three consecutive unpaid installments- stood at 42,100 million in August in the eighth month of the year, 0.9% more than in the previous month, which translates into 326 million more.