Bad debtors

Experts analyzed citizens who have overdue debt for more than 90 days (default loans), and made an average portrait of the defaulter. This is a married man or woman who is about 40 years old and has completed secondary or higher education. This is stated in the study of the National Association of Professional Collection Agencies (SRO “NAPCA”). At the same time, 39% of the economically active population have unsecured consumer credit in a bank — this is about 27-28 million people, according to the authors. Of these, 5 million were in default. Every year, the number of such defaulters increases by 3-5%.

The absence of payments for three months means that the loan cannot be repaid by the borrower. Most often, a default occurs when a citizen is out of work or becomes ill. For this category of loans, banks accrue maximum reserves for possible losses from non-repayment.

For the first time, there is no difference in the ratio of men and women among “hopeless” debtors, now both of them are 50%, Elman Mekhtiev, the President of the SRO “NAPCA”, told Izvestiya. He attributed this to a reduction in the gender pay gap. According to the head of the Association, more and more representatives of the beautiful half of humanity go to work and begin to provide for themselves and their families. At the same time, their solvency increases and the risks of late payments on loans decrease, the expert added. In 2018, 48% of delinquency accounted for the stronger sex and 52% – for the fair sex, and in 2017 – 47% and 53%, respectively.

In the age section, defaulters are more likely to be representatives of the stronger sex from 25 to 30 years old. This is 23% of the total number of male debtors, the study says. This is due to the fact that they tend to take a loan for more expensive purchases: cars, household equipment or gadgets, according to Fedor Vachata, the General Director of the debt collection agency M.B.A. Finance.

According to him, most often man is a breadwinner of the family. He provides for needs and requirements of a family, so he takes responsibility for purchasing more expensive goods. At the same time, the stronger sex is less responsible for budget planning and payments, the expert explained. Among women at this age, only 18% default on consumer loans.

Debts have pulled up to salaries

According to the study of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, before the may 2012 presidential decrees, women’s salaries in Russia were on average 33-35% lower than men’s. As the President’s instructions were implemented, the gap narrowed and in 2019 it amounted to 27.4%. The authors do not specify absolute numbers. In general, there is a positive trend in the alignment of wages for both sexes. In Moscow, the discrepancy is much smaller — only 11%. At the same time, it is noted that the difference in pensions across the country is 5.5% in favor of men, and in the Russian capital, gender differences are “practically absent”. As a whole, in the world, the fair sex receives 16-22% less than the stronger sex, according to the data of the International labor organization.

The authors of the study note that women tend to borrow a more precise amount “without reserve”, because they are more often responsible for maintaining the household budget. Men borrow on average 15 thousand rubles more than they need, just in case.

At the same time, women over the age of 60 are twice as likely to default as the stronger sex. This is not due to payment discipline, but to the fact that women live longer. For this reason, banks are less willing to lend to men at this age.

Young people under 24 are twice as likely to default. If in 2017 they accounted for only 3% of non-payments, and in 2018 – about 5%, in 2019 – almost 8%. Researchers attribute this to the fact that after the 2014 crisis, banks began to look for new customers.

Financial organizations actively lend to young people, understanding that parents will help children in case of problems with payment, says Roman Volosnikov, the General Director of debt collection agency “NSV”. According to him, the number of such borrowers in the loan portfolio of banks has been growing for five years. However, in practice, there is an increase in the share of non-payers in this age category, because they do not tend to plan a budget, make emotional purchases and do not understand the terms of credit, he added.