16% more young people with payment problems despite overall decrease

The number of people with payment problems decreased again in the past 12 months, as did the total number of people with credit. But more young people are struggling to repay their debts. The number of people aged 18 to 24 with payment problems increased by 16 percent, Stichting BKR reported.

BKR keeps track of all credit over 250 euros in the Netherlands. Lenders use BKR to determine whether an applicant can handle more credit. Lenders in the Netherlands are obliged to register every loan they provide with BKR.

At the end of August 2022, over 7.8 million Netherlands residents had more than 11.8 million consumer loans, compared to 8.5 million people a year earlier. And over 538,000 people were struggling to pay their debts, compared to 632,000 a year earlier. So BKR does not yet see the increasing inflation reflected in its figures. “It seems that people are still able to pay their loans and fixed costs on time,” chairman Peter van den Bosch said.

But among young people up to age 24, payment problems increased. At the end of August, approximately 36,000 young people were struggling to repay their debts on time, an increase of more than 16 percent compared to a year ago.