Less than consumer credit for the French

The results of a survey conducted by the Sofres in November 2010 among a sample of 8813 households, have just been published by the French Banking Federation (FBF): This study shows that the share of households owning a credit in 2010 is 49.5%, down from 2009 (50.8%). If the rate of detention of real estate loans remained at a stable level (30.5% of households), the share of consumer credit increased from 31.7% in 2009 to 30.1% in 2010. Two years of crisis and the evolution of the use by households in this type of credit involved probably the explanation for this trend: the French are more reasonable and subscribe less credit to finance their leisure their holiday. Thus, the revolving credit was down sharply.

As for the mortgage, the study suggests that if the French are less likely to borrow, they borrow more, however, since the outstanding mortgages increases. Households are confident in their ability to repay their loans without too harsh impact on their budget. However, they remain cautious and say the vast majority do not want to take out credit in 2011: only 4.1% of them (against 4.4% in 2009) think to use a consumer credit, and 4.8% ( against 5.6%) to a mortgage.