A sign of insufficient household liquidity is an increase in the number of refusals recorded in standing orders for paying bills, which, according to DIAS, for the seven months of January-July 2022 increased by 29.5% compared to the corresponding period. last year.

These are standing orders tied to bank accounts for electricity, mobile or landline telephone bills, water bills or other obligations, and which, when the time comes for payment, are rejected by banks on the grounds that the accounts do not have sufficient balance.

Denials in the seventh month of this year increased to 4.2 million from 3.3 million in the corresponding period last year, recording an increase of 29.5%, according to DIAS, the national clearing agency for all transactions. higher than the increase registered in the same period in the number of standing orders in our country to pay bills.

In particular, the number of standing orders increased to 10.7 million compared to 9.7 million in 2021, recording a 9.9% annual growth, with the lion’s share, i.e. 4.6 million, coming from standing orders. instructions for payment of electricity bills. So, even though more and more people are opting for a standing order to pay their monthly bills, when the time comes for the company to “withdraw” the money from the bank account, they end up without enough balance, causing the bank to reject the transaction. .

4.2 million standing orders were rejected by banks during the 7th month due to insufficient account balances.

The rising number of refusals is a worrying sign of a lack of liquidity, even for households that have voluntarily chosen to pay their obligations with standing orders, not taking into account their ability to have an available balance that ends up not being checked at the time of repayment.

It should be noted that some companies, mainly energy companies, encourage the linking of an account to a standing order, while others, mainly telecommunications, have introduced mandatory linking to a bank account when invoicing electronically.

Thus, according to DIAS, over the past three years there has been a significant increase (21%) of standing orders for paying for electricity, while standing orders for paying telephone bills look stable. The second largest category of standing orders is the payment of insurance premiums, which also increased by 45.6% over the past three years.

Payment of monthly obligations through a standing order is not a common type of payment in our country, unlike other European markets, which prefer this type of transaction for redemption. Tellingly, direct debits, a category that includes standing payment orders, account for 20% of transactions in the EU, according to ECB data for 2021. compared to 1.2% in Greece, with 67.6 direct debit transactions per inhabitant in the EU. compared to 2.4 per person in our country.