Information released today regarding consumer credit includes personal loans, car loans, and revolving credit, which encompass credit cards, overdraft facilities, and credit lines.
In October, revolving credit represented the largest category by number of contracts, accounting for 58% of the total (83,376), though it only accounted for 18.2% of the total amount, totaling 135 million euros.
The amount of new credit showed a year-over-year change rate for the accumulated value over the last 12 months (TVHA) of 2.8%, while the number of contracts decreased by 0.2%. According to BdP, this indicator helps analyze the momentum of new consumer credit agreements.
Practically, this indicates that the amount of new contracts signed in the 12 months ending in that month (from November 2024 to October 2025) was 2.8% higher than the value of new contracts signed in the 12 months ending in October.
For car loans, the TVHA was 14.2%, increasing to 335.7 million euros, resulting from 21,190 contracts (an increase of 10.2%).
Regarding personal loans, there was a 12.0% increase in the number of new contracts, with 52,801 being signed, amounting to 384.3 million euros.
BdP notes that apart from the COVID-19 pandemic period, “the new amounts contracted have increased across all purposes,” with car loans being the credit category “with the highest TVHA since September 2023.”
Today’s data also cover the cost of credit, calculated through the annual percentage rate of charge (APR), which includes the contractual interest rate and other fees charged by the credit institution, such as commissions and taxes.
Revolving credit has the highest average contractual cost at 17.9%, ahead of personal loans (12.0%) and car loans (10.4%).
Car loans are the credit category with the highest median amount among new contracts, with half reaching 14,400 euros or more in October, compared to 4,860 euros for personal loans and 1,000 euros for revolving credit.
The average duration for car purchases was 7.3 years, with shorter terms for new cars (6.3 years versus 7.6 years for used cars).
BdP also notes that the utilization rate of revolving credit, establishing a ratio between the outstanding amount and the total contracted amount, has remained stable in recent years, ranging between 25% and 30%. In October, 27.05% of available revolving credit was utilized.
At the end of October, there were 6.3 million active contracts, totaling 23.659 million euros.
The majority of contracts were revolving credit (3.7 million contracts), making up 17% of the total amount (4.023 million euros), while car loans represented the largest portion of the amount (10.363 million euros) and personal loans had an outstanding balance of 9.273 million euros.
