Most Romanians pay bills on time but unrecoverable debt places country among worst in Europe

Romanians are among the best payers when it comes to their bills, compared to other Europeans, according to a recent study from debt collection firm EOS KSI. Around 92 percent of the bills issued during a year to individuals are paid on time in Romania, the study reveals. On the other hand, if they are late with paying a bill, Romanians choose not to pay it at all, and the country leads the chart of unrecoverable debts in Europe. Over 11 percent of the total value of bills issued for individuals are not recovered, while the for companies the rate is 9 percent.

“Companies try to keep good payers, but the problem is that when they are late with one payment, things get out of hand and they never pay at all,” explained Georg Kovacs, head of EOS KSI Romania. Romanian companies are also well behaved debtors: 74.8 percent of them pay their bills on time, a high ranking among the studied countries. Most reliable clients come from the industrial sector, while the least reliable are in trade and services. In trade, one bill in three is paid after its deadline expires. Russians come next in the ranking of bill payers in the study, which also covered Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Germany, Spain, Belgium and UK. Romania and Russia ranking second in the study could be explained by the fact that companies carefully check the solvability of their clients and give short payment deadlines, according to EOS KSI. Elsewhere in Europe, 69.5 percent of the Greeks pay their bills on time, 70 percent of the Spaniards, while in Germany, 82.4 percent pay on time. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: sxc.hu)