Romanians rank low in Europe for their ability to pay bills on time – report

Romanian consumers rank among the lowest in Europe when it comes to their ability to pay bills on time, Romania ranking 21st in this category, out of 24 European states included in the European Consumer Payment Report 2019 released by Intrum.

Germany tops this ranking, followed by Denmark and Austria. On the other hand, Greek consumers rank lowest in Europe, with only 57% confident in their ability to pay their bills each month.

This category of the report measures the extent to which consumers are able to pay their bills on time, in connection with the proportion of salary remaining after the monthly bills are paid and the gross disposable household income per capita.

“The results presented in the report show that, although the Romanians are not as dependent on loans as consumers from other countries, when it comes to paying bills or saving for the future, we occupy among the lowest positions in the ranking of European countries,” reads a press release from Intrum Romania, quoted by Profit.ro.

“Although the value of the amounts borrowed for personal needs has decreased compared to last year from 73% to 67%, Romanian consumers still prefer to borrow up to 25% of their salary. The predominant source of loans is represented by family or friends (72%), followed by the bank of which they are members (23%).”

The same report also revealed that the Romanian consumers are struggling to save. Romania ranks second to last (23rd) in the ‘Saving for the future’ category, ahead of Greece, while the countries with the best saving score are Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.

Romania does much better in the ‘Financial literacy’ category, where it scores above the average (6.50 vs. 6.32). This places Romania at number 13 in this ranking, which is topped by Finland, UK and Ireland. A total of over 64% of the Romanian respondents believe that they have a solid financial education.

Romania ranks 19th in the overall ranking of financial wellbeing, with the leading countries being Germany, Austria and Sweden. Poland, Lithuania and Greece occupy the last three places. ‘Financial wellbeing’ is defined as having the financial security to meet everyday spending needs and be in control of the finances.

The report’s results are based on data collected from 24,004 consumers across 24 European countries. About 1,000 Romanians participated in the study.

The full report is available