Once the holidays are over, the tan is gone, you open your wallet. Waiting for families, as every year in September, a series of payments linked to the return to everyday life. School expenses of the children in the first place. But for some years now, there have also been those who have decided to postpone the balance of the summer holiday they have just enjoyed to the autumn.
From a survey conducted by Crif company, which manages one of the most important Credit Information Systems, despite the substantial generalized contraction in the demand for consumer credit, the debt choices of Italian households have changed radically compared to the pre-crisis period. More generally, reading the data reveals the desire of many Italians not to give up the lifestyle they have laboriously conquered over the years.
Through the examination of approximately 1,3 million personal loans with known purchase purposes, disbursed from the beginning of 2008, i.e. before the economic crisis manifested itself, to the first quarter of 2012, the researchers have identified some categories of expenditure.
The comparison revealed a greater familiarity of the Italians with the loan market such as to push their use not only for extraordinary expenses, such as furnishing and renovation of buildings (which rose from 17,3% to 16,3% of the total), but also to meet payments related to everyday life, such as travel and leisure expenses, which went from 17,6% to 24,2% of the total.
However, the trend seems to involve, at least for now, a very small part of the population. Indeed, a 2011 survey by the Findomestic Observatory shows that Italians have a highly cautious attitude when it comes to paying off a trip or a holiday in installments: on an index from 1 to 5 (1 not at all in favor of the idea of doing so, 5 absolutely in favour) the average vote was 1,5.
Tale attitude of utmost caution this translates into smaller installments and reduced average amounts compared to the recent past, as confirmed by a survey carried out by the Prestiti.it website.
Only in the first half of 2012, according to the independent comparison of loan offers, banks and finance companies have granted Italians over 24 million euros in loans to be used for travel and holidays.
The requests presented by those who wanted to obtain a personal loan were oriented towards a average amount of 4.100 euros. Much cheaper accommodation and destinations would be at the basis of the request for a much lower amount than that recorded twelve months earlier, equal to around 7.000 euros.
The identikit of the applicant reveals a greater propensity to purchase by installments on the part of the male sex (as much as 66% of the total sample): the average age at the time of the loan application is 38 years, while the average net salary of those who have presented this type of request is 1.300 euros per month, with a plan for repaying the sum equal to 39 months, a value identical to that of 2011. Compared to a year ago, however, those who choose to resort to a consumer loan to go on vacation, they prefer to pay a lighter monthly installment than the family budget (about 120 euros).
