One out of 20 Poles spend more than they earn, and half of us live "from the first to the first" - according to the survey "Attitudes of Poles towards Saving" by The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. As experts point out, our financial behavior is a road that takes us straight into a spiral of debt.
The report "Attitudes of Poles towards Saving clearly shows that the majority of us not only don't save, but live in a way that easily leads to excessive debt. 56% of Poles spend everything that they earn. This means that every unplanned expenditure can create a debt. It is troubling that 5% of those surveyed state that they spend more than they earn.
"The majority of people in Poland at best live 'from the first to the first', while one out of 20 live beyond their means," says Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation. "Deeper analysis of the data shows that some of these situations result from a lack of skills with managing one's budget and not from low or very low incomes. They can also stem from a lack of financial knowledge.
Poles' knowledge about the costs, for example, of a cash loan is poor. In this year's edition of The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation survey, 72% of respondents could not correctly answer a question regarding how much they would have to pay back after taking a loan.
Poles are afraid of getting into debt
It is mainly due to lack of knowledge that Poles are afraid of credit and debt. According to a survey conducted on behalf of the Credit Information Bureau and The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation, a significant number of people have an ambivalent attitude towards credit. On the one hand, we believe it is thanks precisely to credit that we can finance larger expenditures, for which it is difficult to set aside funds on a regular basis. But on the other hand, we often think that paying back credit involves substantial sacrifices. For nearly half of those who use credit products, managing current financial obligations is a burden, and for 7% it is a major burden.
"Fear of credit and debt to a large extent results from Poles' low level of financial knowledge," says Dr. Mariusz Cholewa, president of the Credit Information Bureau. "It is all the more unsettling because the majority of us make use of credit or other financial products. The inability to rationally manage finances and to evaluate one's capacity to pay off new debts has meant that one in five Poles have been late with repayments at least once.
According to the study "The Financial Credibility of Poles", 20% of users of credit or loans have been late at least once with repayment of their debts. Most delays in repayments take place among people aged 35-44, i.e. those who use credit the most - 23% of them were late with repayments more than once.
