Status: 03.02.2023 05:02
Millions of people in Germany can apparently not shoulder the high cost of living – and have therefore slipped into the red with their accounts. This is shown by a survey by the Federal Consumer Association.
Every seventh person in Germany has overdrawn their account or used their overdraft facility within three months. This is the result of a study for the consumer advice centers ARD Capital Studio present. Around half of those affected state that the reason for this is high costs, for example due to inflation or high energy prices.
Dispo not intended to finance everyday life
Nine percent also assume that they will not be able to bear the increased cost of living in the long term and will have to go into debt. For the representative study, the Federation of Consumer Organizations had around 1,000 people questioned.
The consumer centers view the development critically. Just like the other consumer credits, the overdraft facility is not actually intended to finance life, but for short-term purchases, says the chairwoman of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations (vzbv), Ramona Pop, in the SWR-Interview: “In this respect, we see with concern that the increased cost of living, from energy to food prices, is driving people into credit because their normal income is no longer sufficient.”
“These interest rates are immoral”
An overdraft facility at the bank initially seems practical: it is automatically available to most bank customers and does not have to be applied for first. Simply put, you only go into the red on your current account. The problem with this: The interest rates for these overdraft facilities are usually very high. The most expensive bank charges more than 14 percent per year. On average, customers are around ten percent.
The Federal Association of German Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken sees no problem in this: “Thanks to a large offer, bank customers have it in their own hands where and on what terms they want to use an overdraft facility,” it says on request.
“These interest rates are immoral and cannot be justified in any way,” says Christian Görke, former finance minister in Brandenburg and now spokesman on finance for the left-wing parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Together with his parliamentary group, he calls for a limit on overdraft interest. In their proposal to the federal government, the MEPs propose setting the interest rate so that it is never more than five percent above the key rate of the European Central Bank. After the latest increase, that would be a maximum of eight percent. “That’s a lot, but it’s not ten, eleven, twelve percent,” says financial expert Görke.
Consumer centres: No overdraft cover required
The consumer centers see this requirement as more of a fight against the symptoms than the causes – and therefore do not demand such a dispo cover: “Because we believe that the measure is much more important to limit the dispo framework itself, so that people do not stay in it for long remain overdraft facility,” says consumer advocate Pop im SWR-Interview.
So that means: Without a corresponding check of the creditworthiness, it should not be possible, according to the demand of the consumer centers, to slip so far into the overdraft facility. “For many, the (overdraft limit) is two or three times the monthly income. If you get in there once, the probability is unfortunately very high that you won’t get out,” says consumer advocate Pop. In addition, at some point the compound interest effect will strike. The consumer centers are calling for a ban here so that the interest that debtors have to pay cannot continue to pile up.
Coming changes?
How realistic is it that the proposals will be implemented? It is extremely unlikely that the motion by the left will find a majority in the Bundestag. And yet something could happen: The Federal Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection refers to the coalition agreement in which it was agreed to do more against over-indebtedness.
The European Union is also working on this issue. Among other things, the discussion is that consumer credit, which also includes the overdraft facility, may only be granted if those affected also have a corresponding credit rating – i.e. if they can also repay the loan. An upper limit for overdraft interest is not planned.
All in all, vzbv boss Pop should be satisfied with it. However, she advises people who have problems with the currently high prices to take advantage of advice – for example that of the local consumer advice centers. And she puts hope in the federal government’s aid measures: “The price brakes are coming now – and hopefully they will also work. And one or the other collective bargaining round is still pending as far as income is concerned”.