Overdue CHF loans top 200m euros in February

Clients who took out Swiss franc loans lured by the low interests displayed by bankers have fully felt the exchange rate increase, and their overdue payments have risen three times in a single year.

Individuals had in late February accumulated overdue instalments for loans in currencies other than leu, euro and dollar worth 911m lei (216m euros), namely three times above the level registered in the corresponding period of last year.

Analysts do not expect CHF loan overdue payments to slide soon, though the exchange rate, the main factor behind the rapid upsurge of payment delays, has been stabilising lately. The weight of past due loans in total loans revolves around 6.7%.

Delays in paying back euro-denominated loans have also doubled over the past year, reaching 2.16bn lei (around 510m euros), while leu-denominated loan overdue payments have stabilised within the 2.7-2.8bn lei interval, after a steep decline in 2009.