Men are more optimistic about the improvement in the financial situation when compared to women. Out of the men who responded to the survey, 54% feel that the financial situation of their family is going to improve slightly or improve a lot in the coming years. As for women, 47% of the respondents believe that the financial situation is improving. The sense of security is greater in the case of the younger age groups.
As a rule, the loan affected the family’s financial situation in a negative manner. For most, the financial situation has remained the same when compared to the period before taking the loan. Actually, 29% of those respondents who had lived in a rented home before, affirm that their financial situation has improved after the decision to take the loan. Financial pressure is felt mostly by those who bought a home to start living on their own – for more than a fifth, the financial situation has either worsened or worsened significantly.
Triin Messimas, Development Manager of Private Loans at SEB: “The proportion of so-called bad loans is not high among the clients and usually they also manage to save some of their income. Just a third of the participants reported that they need to spend their entire income, and might even fall short. In a similar survey conducted in 2012, half of the loan clients were not able to save anything from their income. In general, saving opportunities were better for men – 48% the reported that their family can save at least 100 euros each month. The respective figure for women was only 35%.”
*The survey was conducted in the period between 3 March and 4 April. The sample consisted of clients who had taken a home loan from SEB between 2011 and the present. There were 1,343 respondents in the survey.
