If the Banque de France does not note an increase in people in financial difficulty, numerous signals show that certain French households are increasingly struggling to pay their bills, whether for energy, housing or even insurance. .
Are we finally heading towards the end of the price rise? According to François Villeroy de Galhau, In France we have passed the peak of inflation. However, the governor of the Bank of France believes that it will not be a peak, but rather a high plateau on which we will have to stay long enough.
In fact, after falling 4.3% over one year in July, the consumer price index started to rise again in August (4.8%), according to INSEE. Bad news, therefore, for many households who have been facing a decline in their purchasing power for many months.
In the 2022 annual report of its banking inclusion observatory, published in June, the Banque de France estimated 4.1 million, the number of vulnerable customers as of December 31, 2022a stable figure compared to 2021.
The various banks contacted by MoneyVox confirm this trend. Although LCL has noted a very slight increase in the use of authorized overdrafts over the past year, the use of unauthorized overdrafts has been stable over the period.
According to our survey, carried out in partnership with YouGov, more than one in 3 French people are uncovered or have been so over the last 12 months. And the average amount of these overdrafts tends to increase.
For its part, Crédit Coopratif assures that the use of overdrafts has been increasing for a year, but that the number of cases of financial fragility is not increasing, on the contrary: We had 7,600 customers detected in a situation of financial fragility at the end of May 2023, compared to 8,640 a year agoassures the brand.
An increase in over-indebtedness cases
But the very latest figures seem to indicate an increase in difficulties. The latest monthly barometer of financial inclusion, published in mid-August by the Banque de France, shows that the number of overindebtedness files filed is up 11% over one year (10,075 in July 2023 compared to 9,087 in July 2022).
In total, at the end of July, 71,628 applications had been submitted since the beginning of the year, compared to 67,712 in the same period a year earlier. The number of people newly registered in the national file of personal loan repayment incidents (FICP), which lists people who have encountered difficulties in repaying a loan or in a situation of over-indebtedness, exceeded 500,000 at the end of July, up 15% compared to July 2022.
Many organizations also report the increasing difficulty of French people paying their bills. The Banque de France itself notes, in its report, that the member associations of the banking inclusion observatory (OIB) bear witness to situations of exclusion and deprivation. If these do not result in significantly greater banking difficulties, this could result in difficult trade-offs in the consumption of households themselves. In short: while prices are still at their highest, these households are tightening their belts.
But it still happens that the seam cracks. Telecoms, insurance, energy… The difficulties are piling up. The insurance mediator explains, for example, experiencing a very sharp increase in the number of files processed (+80% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same half of 2022).
If this increase comes primarily from the difficulties insurers have in managing a claim in two months, as requested since January 1 by the ACPR, the sector watchdog, there are also purchasing power difficulties. The increases in complaints primarily concern car and home insurance and mobile phone insurance, explains the mediator.
According to the latter, the increase in disputes concerning invoicing can also come from the fact that people are more careful about the cost of their contract in a time like this.
Insurance, telecoms, energy… all areas are concerned
And the phenomenon is cause for concern, since it can put users in danger. In October 2022, 11% of French people said they were ready, according to a study by the insurer Leocare, no longer take out insurance to save money.
For its part, the Compulsory Damage Insurance Guarantee Fund (FGAO) has also observed over the last five years a 44% increase in the proportion of uninsured drivers involved in bodily injury accidents.
Without mentioning payment defaults, the electronic communications mediator also notes a slight increase in disputes related to invoicing over the past year (28% in 2022, compared to 25% in 2021).
For his part, the energy mediator explained in the spring that despite the tariff shield and additional energy checks, the number of interventions for unpaid debts increased in 2022 by 10% compared to 2021with 863,000 records.
Finally, according to the online real estate agency Imodirect, reminders for unpaid debts, already at a high level since Covid, have increased further since the start of the year: in le-de-France, for example, 3.49% of Tenants were one month late in rent in August, compared to 3.03% in March.
Pauline Dujardin, lawyer and spokesperson for Crsus, a network of associations fighting over-indebtedness, claims to have noticed an increase in current charge debts. If debts on energy bills are very present in these files, we also find concerns about late rent.
We have fewer and fewer files that relate solely to credit, and more and more files with debts for current charges.
We see it in cases of over-indebtedness: we have fewer and fewer cases that relate only to credit, and more and more files with current charge debtsassures the spokesperson for Crsus, who is concerned about the possibility of seeing people arriving in the coming weeks who have taken out consumer loans to pay their bills and meet these current charges.
In any case, the phenomenon does not date from 2023: At the end of last year, we had a peak in attendance, notably at the time of heating regularizations, in October-November. We saw people arriving with big gas or electricity bills. It’s not just since January.
If you are in difficulty, it is better to seek help quickly: There are people who do not file over-indebtedness cases, even though they could, or even should, do so, confirms Pauline Dujardin. People are very afraid of the over-indebtedness procedureeven though it is a protective measure.