The most recent Consumer Pulse study by the credit information company TransUnion revealed that in the second quarter the majority of Colombian consumers expect an improvement in their income in the coming months, but also showed the concern they have for the payment of their credits and debts, due to the current macroeconomic conditions.
(Read: Effects on ordinary citizens: what would rise due to the rise in the dollar).
The study mentions that 5% of surveyed consumers expect their household income to decrease in the next 12 months and the majority expect them to increase (77%, with an increase of 5 percentage points from the first quarter of 2022) or that they remain the same (18%).
Consumers also reported having started new jobs (14%) and new businesses (15%), as well as having received increases in their salaries (14%) in the last month.
The study says that job loss and reduced wages and working hours remained the main drivers of the decrease in income of Colombians.
Notably, 25% of all consumers surveyed said that someone in their household lost their job, while 21% and 15% indicated that someone in their household had their salary and reduced working hours, respectively.
Concern about the ability to pay obligations rose, with 76% of consumers expressing concern and 39% indicating that they would not be able to pay at least one of the your current obligations in full.
In addition, surveyed consumers are also concerned about macroeconomic dynamics, ranking inflation, employment, rising interest rates, and rising home prices (in that order) as the top four concerns, affecting finances. from their homes for the remainder of this 2022.
Doubts in asking for credit
71% of consumers said they were very or extremely concerned about inflation, and 82% indicated they are making changes to their purchasing behaviors due to inflation. Additionally, 58% of surveyed consumers indicated that rising interest rates have a significant impact on whether or not to apply for credit in the next 12 months.
When it comes to spending in the next three months, 43% said they expected the discretionary personal spending decline in the next three months, while 34% expected the same for purchases in stores or online and 40% expected a decline in large purchases. Additionally, 32% said they expected their household’s bill payment spending to increase in the next three months.
(Also: Income statement 2022: step by step to complete the process).
financial plans
Although 96% of consumers surveyed believe that access to credit is important in order to achieve their financial goals, less than half (40%) stated that they currently have sufficient access to credit products. Among all the generations, Generation Z (born from 1995 to 2000) is the one that indicated having less access to credit products, with 31%.
Among all the respondents, 49% considered applying for a new loan or refinance an existing one, but ultimately decided against it. Among them, 34% chose not to do so because they considered that the cost of new credit or refinancing was too high.
31% of those consulted indicated that they carried out more than half of their transactions online, 56% declared that they carried out up to 50% of their transactions online and 13% said that none. When applying for digital credit, 88% of surveyed consumers indicated that real-time approval was important to them.
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