The rate increase of the last year and a half has hit the credit demand of households and companies, but not all. He Consumer credit It resists almost immune to the increase in the price of money dictated by the European Central Bank (ECB) and is mainly responsible for the 4.3% growth that the non-bank financing industry has experienced until September compared to the same period of the previous year.
Specifically, consumer financing soared by 6.5% in the first nine months of the year, reaching 20,877 million euros, according to data provided to EL MUNDO by Asnefthe association that brings together regulated financial entities specialized in consumer financing in Spain.
The figure stands out in a context marked by the general contraction of credit to households and companies. According to the latest data from the Bank of Spain, the financing granted by financial institutions to Spanish families fell by 2.8% in October, to 682,952 million euros, while business financing fell by 3.6%, to the 922,261 million euros. In this case, as is the case with EFCs, consumer credit is the only segment that holds up with an increase of 2.08% in October.
The purchase and sale of vehicles and the financing of daily life are the most common destinations for that credit money that families increasingly request, even though its average price – around 8.2% in October, according to the Bank of Spain – is higher than the general loan.
Along with consumer credit, the financing of capital goods granted by the entities that make up Asnef has also proven resilient. In this case, the granting of new credit grew by 4.2%, to 782 million euros, while real estate operations contracted by 74.8% in the same period, going from 532 million euros in new investment in September 2022 to 133 million this year.