Munich/Neuss (dpa/lby) – Despite the rising prices, the number of Bavarians who can no longer pay their bills has recently fallen. As the credit agency Creditreform reported in its study “Debter Atlas 2022”, around 660,000 adults in Bavaria were indebted – around 40,000 fewer than a year ago.
The over-indebtedness rate – i.e. the proportion of over-indebted people in relation to all adults in the Free State – fell to 6.05 percent. In the previous year the rate was 6.4 and in 2020 it was 7.1 percent. Bavaria thus continues to have the best value in a comparison of the federal states, as can be seen from the figures published in Neuss on Tuesday. This is followed by Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia.
According to the study, 5.9 million people nationwide are over-indebted – meaning they have to spend more money than they earn over a longer period of time. That is 274,000 fewer cases than in the previous year. The nationwide over-indebtedness rate fell by almost half a point to 8.5 percent.
According to Creditreform, state aid, pandemic-related restrictions on consumption options as well as consumer waivers and spending caution pushed the number of nationwide cases of over-indebtedness to a new low last year.
However, Creditreform now expects the over-indebtedness figures to rise sharply in the coming months. The main reason for this is the sharp rise in energy bills, which will not be due until the beginning of next year. Many consumers lack the financial cushion for this.
