According to Schufa and ING Germany, more people in Germany are asking for loans to make a living. Deutsche Bank is also concerned.
In view of rising energy prices and high inflation, there are growing concerns about over-indebtedness among Germans – also on the part of the financial sector.
“What we are finding is that people are finding it increasingly difficult to make a living,” said Tanja Birkholz, CEO of the credit bureau Schufa, on Wednesday at the Handelsblatt banking summit. “There’s definitely something brewing.”
“If the stock of negative reports increases, that can’t be good – neither for people nor for the economy,” said Tanja Birkholz with a view to the risk of increasing over-indebtedness.
Nick Jue, CEO of the online bank ING Germany, shares the assessment: “I have exactly the same concern.”
Germans are increasingly using up their savings
Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing also assesses the situation as threatening: A significant proportion of people in Germany are currently living 
off their savings. “It’s dangerous,” he said. There are enough families in Germany where the monthly expenses are already higher than the income. The savings banks, market leaders in the German banking market, are already anticipating that up to 60 percent of German households will have to use their entire available income or even more for basic living expenses.
