Radio | News week in plain Finnish | Sunday 8 September 2024

Indebtedness and an increase in foreclosures

The topic of the news week is Finns’ indebtedness and foreclosures.

Finns’ debt problems are increasing.

This year, many more people have been subject to foreclosure than last year.

Almost half a million Finns have debt problems.

We will now tell you more about the increase in foreclosures and debt problems.

Foreclosure

Foreclosure means that money is taken, for example, from a person’s salary or pension to pay a debt. The authority can also sell a person’s property, for example an apartment or a car.

Almost 20 percent more foreclosures have been started this year than last year.

Much more property for sale has also gone into foreclosure than last year.

Financial problems

Financial problems have increased for many people. For example, housing, food and electricity have become more expensive.

Many people are unable to pay all the bills.

For example, some people have taken out consumer credit for shopping, but they are unable to pay it back.

The situation can be seen in the debt counseling of the Guarantee Foundation. Debt counseling has received tens of thousands of calls.

The demand for debt counseling has risen by about 30 percent more than in previous years.

The guarantee foundation says that debt counseling discussions and counseling processes also take longer than before. The reason is that many people now have a more difficult situation than before.

Young and working people

Many small debts are subject to foreclosure. The majority of debt enforcement is less than 500 euros. This is about 30 percent of foreclosure debts.

Young and working people are also subject to foreclosure more than before.

One reason is that social security has been cut.

This year, more than 600 minors, i.e. children under the age of 18, have been taken into custody.

Minors are subject to foreclosure, for example, if the parents have transferred property to the child’s name, but they have not paid the fees.

Repeat

The topic of the news week was the indebtedness of Finns and foreclosures.

Let’s repeat the most important things.

The number of foreclosures has increased a lot this year.

The demand for debt counseling has also grown a lot. The reason is the increase in economic difficulties. Living has become more expensive. Social security has been cut.

Young people are also subject to foreclosure more than before.

Most small debts end up in foreclosure.