He revealed for what purposes Lithuanians borrowed more often this year | Business

Borrowing also grew due to positive expectations

According to the peer-to-peer lending platform Finbee, the amount of consumer loans issued through the platform increased by almost 30 percent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, reaching 14.7 million. euros, and the amount of loans issued increased by 45%.

Most of the residents borrowed this year to refinance existing loans, for daily use, home repairs and cars.

The average consumer loan amounted to 1.3 thousand this year. euros (in the first half of 2023 it was 1.5 thousand euros), for house repairs – 4.7 thousand. EUR (last year – EUR 4.7 thousand), for a car – EUR 4.6 thousand. EUR (last year – EUR 4.2 thousand), for refinancing – EUR 6.4 thousand. euros (last year – 5.3 thousand euros), for holidays – 1.9 thousand. euros (last year – 1.7 thousand euros).

“As shown by various polls, we started 2024 with a more optimistic attitude, along with falling inflation and improving economic forecasts for the country, Lithuanians improved their expectations for both their personal finances and the country’s economy in the first half of this year. In addition, wage growth continues to be strong. It can be said that these factors increased the population’s ability to borrow.

This is confirmed by growing average loan amounts. On the other hand, goods and services that have become more expensive over the past few years also affect more active borrowing – people do not want to postpone important purchases, but the accumulated funds are not enough”, says Darius Noreika, head of peer-to-peer lending platform Finbee.

He adds that the continued growth of loans for refinancing shows that the scale of expensive, previously perhaps imprudently taken out loans from various financial institutions is not diminishing. “The good news is that residents are looking for ways to ease their financial burden by reducing their loan payments. This allows us to claim that financial literacy is growing,” says D. Noreika.

Looking at the age of the borrowers, this year the 26-45-year-old population borrowed the most, but the percentage of the 46-55-year-old population increased the most. At least lent to people aged 18-25.

The activity of female investors is monitored

Residents’ investments also grew noticeably this year. According to the peer-to-peer lending platform, the total amount invested by retail investors in consumer and business loans increased by 35 percent compared to the same period last year and reached almost 15.4 million. euros. The average amount invested by one investor increased from 306 euros last year to 365 euros per month in the first half of this year.

People aged 36-45 invested the most, whose total invested amount grew by more than 30 percent. and, people aged 46-55 – their investments increased by almost 45 percent.

Also this year, compared to the first half of last year, there is a much more active investment by women – they invested 45 percent. more than last year. However, there were 3 times more male investors and they invested 5 times more than female investors. According to the mutual lending platform, the average amount invested by a man is 436 euros (375 euros in the first half of last year), 294 euros by a woman (236 euros in the first half of last year) per month.