Higher prices for energy or rent are causing more and more consumers to get into trouble. Anyone who becomes over-indebted will eventually have to file for personal bankruptcy. People in the southwest are rarely affected - but the numbers are increasing in the long term.
Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) - The number of private bankruptcies in the southwest fell last year, but is significantly higher than before the corona pandemic. After a sharp increase in 2021, the credit agency Crif now recorded 9,282 cases. That was 15.7 percent less than in 2021, when a change in the law, according to the experts, drove up the numbers. For the current year, given the high inflation, Crif expects considerable problems for low-income households and, as a result, many private bankruptcies.
Compared to 2019, the number of private bankruptcies in Baden-Württemberg increased significantly compared to the national average. The increase was 18.6 percent. With 83 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, people in the southwest were still rarely affected. The number was lower only in Bavaria.
The economy is still in crisis mode, Crif Managing Director Frank Schlein said on Wednesday. "Due to the further rising costs, a wave of debt in Germany is possible. If the costs rise sharply, it will be difficult for people who have already been living at the subsistence level." For many, the financial reserves were also used up after the Corona period.
In 2021, after ten years of declining values, the figures had almost doubled compared to the previous year because many debtors were waiting for the insolvency law reform. It has meant that consumers can be freed from their remaining debts after three years instead of the six years that was previously the case. The reduction applied retrospectively from October 1, 2020.
