Banks often generally exclude older people when granting loans, according to a recent study. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency is therefore suggesting a change in the law.
Older people are increasingly being discriminated against when it comes to lending by banks. This emerges from a study by the Institute for Financial Services (iff), which was funded by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency.
According to the study, the average age limit for granting consumer and real estate loans is 67 years. In a random bank survey (100 banks and insurance companies surveyed), 55 percent confirmed that there are age limits when granting consumer loans, and 71 percent confirmed this for real estate loans.
Additional branch closures Disadvantage
According to the study, another cause of disadvantages due to age is branch closures. 48 percent of the participating banks stated that branches had recently been closed, mostly in rural areas. This makes access to advice more difficult, especially for older borrowers. Due to increasing digitalization, loan applications from older people are sometimes rejected without individual checks.
A case for the legislature?
“The study is a warning signal because it shows that older people are often no longer able to get loans across the board,” said the head of the federal anti-discrimination agency, Ferda Ataman, to the “Editorial Network Germany”. This could, for example, lead to many older homeowners who need to replace their heating system having serious problems.
“Banks should of course continue to be able to check the creditworthiness of their customers in the future,” emphasized Ataman. But blanket rejections based on age are wrong. Ataman suggested amending the General Equal Treatment Act to prevent such cases in the future. In addition, banks should have to justify rejections of loans more transparently in the future.