FI Analysis 32: Loans, Repayment Problems and Debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority

Summary

People with low incomes make up a large proportion of those who have repayment problems. This applies to both debts that originate from loans and other debts. Moreover, repayment problems often start with life events such as unemployment or illness.

We have divided repayment problems into four stages – repeated reminders, collection notices, injunctions to pay and debts with the Swedish Enforcement Authority. Low-income constitute a high risk of repayment problems at all these stages. Reminders and collection notices are more common among young borrowers, while middle-aged borrowers are more likely than those in other age groups to have debts with the Enforcement Authority.

The analysis also shows that small loans more commonly lead to reminders and collection notices than larger loans. However, borrowers with small loans are often able to pay before the debt ends up with the Enforcement Authority. Accordingly, it is more common for borrowers with several or larger loans to have debt with the Enforcement Authority.

Over the course of one year, 3.2 per cent of all borrowers in Sweden (who are natural persons) receive at least one injunction to pay, and 0.7 percentage points of them still have the debt the next year.

In 2020, 313,000 people resident in Sweden had some type of debt with the Enforcement Authority. Their total debt amounted to approximately SEK 74 billion. Of these, 65,000 were borrowers and their loans amounted to approximately SEK 14 billion, which is equivalent to approximately one fifth of the total debt and the number of people who had a debt with the Enforcement Authority.