Status: 08/21/2022 09:03 a.m
Some are already earning too little to put money aside. According to estimates by the savings banks, this is likely to get much worse in the future: more than half of Germans will then have to spend their entire income on subsistence.
In view of the rising prices, according to banks, Germans are increasingly unable to put away as much money. The majority of Germans are therefore reaching their financial limits due to high inflation – and this development is increasing.
“We expect that because of the significant price increase, up to 60 percent of German households will have to use their entire disposable income – or more – monthly for pure living expenses,” said Helmut, President of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV). Schleweis, the “Welt am Sonntag”. According to the Sparkasse wealth barometer, a year ago only 15 percent were unable to put money aside.
Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks are also observing that customers have less room to manoeuvre. The board of directors of the Federal Association of German Volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken (BVR), Andreas Martin, told the newspaper: “High inflation robs consumers of purchasing power, which reduces their ability to save.”
Reserves from lockdown times
Many are still benefiting from savings that would have accumulated during the Corona period due to a lack of consumption options. “The peak of the savings rate was around 16 percent in 2020, for 2022 we expect a return to the pre-crisis level of eleven percent,” said Martin.
In the savings banks, the situation is expected to worsen significantly, especially in autumn and winter, especially for people with low and middle incomes.
Overdraft facility is exhausted
According to the DSGV, the tense situation is already evident when the current account is overdrawn. Anyone who uses the so-called overdraft facility to bridge short-term bottlenecks is now “much more exploiting” the framework on average.
The Greens are calling for the amount of overdraft interest to be limited, which currently averages just under ten percent. “Basically, we Greens consider it necessary to legally cap overdraft interest,” said Green finance politician Stefan Schmidt of “Welt am Sonntag”. The interest cap is intended to protect people from escalating costs.