Rising utility bills (electricity, water, gas) are the main cause of financial problems faced by Romanians in the last two years, according to a CURS survey commissioned by the Center for Alternative Litigation Solutions in Banking (CSALB). To cope, most have cut back on food, utilities and vacations, saved money and taken on side jobs.

One in five (21%) Romanian consumers of financial products and services say they had problems with banks and IFNs in 2022 and 2023, according to a survey conducted from July 12 to 25, 2023, among a sample of 1,067 respondents.

Two-thirds of respondents (70%) point to utilities as the main source of financial problems, and 54% say that the main source of problems they face is the cost of food and medicine.

Loan rates were cited by 51% of respondents, and 40% cited fuel and transportation costs as the source that most affects their spending. 15% of respondents claim that they have no financial problems.

Solution: reduce costs, save and increase income

In terms of how respondents try to manage or solve general financial problems (not just banking), the data shows that 55% of them cut back on food, utilities and vacations, while 29% save and build a reserve or emergency fund.

Also, 26% of respondents say that they took on additional work to solve financial problems, and for 20%, information and self-education is one of the ways to solve financial problems.

What did Romanians do with loans

In the period of 2022-2023, the majority of respondents (76%) claim that they had no problems in relations with creditors. 13% of Romanians say they had problems with banks in the past, but now they don’t anymore, and 6% still have problems today. During the same period, 3% of consumers had or have problems with IFN.

Of those that ran into problems, 33% were able to refinance, restructure or reschedule the loan, 17% moved from ROBOR to IRCC, while 16% moved from variable to fixed.

A significant share (13%) is made up of those who tried/succeeded in negotiating with a bank/IFN within the framework of CSALB when they faced a problem with a credit institution.

“Fortunately, three-quarters of consumers have not had any problems with banks or NFIs in the past two years, although loan rates are the third most common source of financial problems after utility and food prices faced by Romanians. This suggests that in the face of difficulties caused by the rising cost of living, consumers were quick to look for solutions rather than scapegoats. Regardless of whether they refinanced their loans, changed certain contractual parameters, switched from variable to fixed interest rates or from the ROBOR index to IRCC, consumers of financial products and services were actively involved in reducing credit rates,” says Alexandru Peunescu, representative of the National Bank of Ukraine . Romania within the framework of CSALB.

This year, until the beginning of September, more than 2,000 consumers applied through CSALB with a request to negotiate with the bank or the IFI to resolve problems in existing contracts.