Consumer credit or overdrafts are often the starting point for over-indebtedness. Debt counseling insists on more financial education.
It's tempting. As part of Black Friday, consumers are promised up to minus 70 percent on clothing, electrical appliances and the like. And with consumers, money is easy – money that they often don't have.
“Offers like those on Black Friday are a certain form of advertising. And advertising awakens needs that are not part of the basic needs. Lure offers give you the feeling that you can meet these needs particularly cheaply, ”explains Clemens Mitterlehner, managing director of ASB Schuldnerberatungen GmbH – the umbrella organization for state-recognized debt counseling. Not everyone who finances purchases through consumer loans or overdrafts is overindebted. But many debt counseling clients have a consumer loan or an overdraft at the beginning of their downward spiral.
After all, the money to finance the bait has to come from somewhere. Therefore Black Friday and Co. are “a certain danger. For many, individual shops bring the barrel to overflowing. Then debt becomes over-indebted, “says Mitterlehner.
Financial education also plays a major role here. According to Mitterlehner's wish, every child should be confronted with the subject in the course of compulsory school. “It is important to know why a 0 euro mobile phone is not free.”
But it is not true that it is only consumption victims who are over-indebted. Because: “The Corona crisis in particular hits many through no fault of their own. Over-indebtedness has reached the middle class. “
No data
There is no valid data on the number of overindebted people in Austria. The last evaluation comes from the year 2008. The demand of the debt counseling service: An overview of the overindebtedness for Austria similar to the debtors atlas in Germany.
Mitterlehner cannot yet predict whether the number of personal bankruptcies will explode in 2021 in view of the Corona crisis. There are too many unknowns such as the duration of the crisis. In addition, the next insolvency law reform is about to take place in 2021. During the last reform in 2017, many people waited to submit their applications because simplifications had been announced in the process. This could happen again.
