The health crisis made us fear the worst. But, if we compare the figures for 2021 with those for 2019, that is to say before the Covid, the over-indebtedness figures are down sharply in Limousin: -20% over-indebted households in Corrèze and -22% in Haute-Vienne. This is in line with what we have observed for several years now. Over this same period, the decline was 18% in the region and 15% in metropolitan France.
Last year, our two departments handled 477 and 685 cases respectively. The overwhelming majority concerns single-parent families and since it is most often the mother who finds herself alone with the children, there is a few more women than men among those concerned. In more than half of the cases, these are people having recourse to the procedure for the first time.
Debt related to current expenses
In detail, in Haute-Vienne the debts linked to mortgages or consumer loans tend to fall. On the other hand, it increases a little for the indebtedness linked to current expenses, such as rent and bills. Some households even find themselves over-indebted only with these charges, when they otherwise have no loans and no credit.
Whatever the reason, the Banque de France can help these households to negotiate a spreading of their debts and lower interest rates with their creditors. In half of the cases, this reorganization is enough to help them get by. But sometimes it is impossible to repay everything. Last year in Corrèze 39% of the procedures resulted in total cancellation of the debt and 42% in Haute-Vienne.
After Corrèze, a departmental financial inclusion committee will soon be created in Haute-Vienne. It is a question of identifying fragile people and ensuring that they are not stunned by bank charges or that they can be arrested in time, before their overdrafts grow too large.