Limited increase in new loans

Anyone taking out a consumer or mortgage loan in Belgium is automatically recorded in the Central Individual Credit Register (CICR) managed by the National Bank. At the end of last year, the CICR contained records for 6,160,051 borrowers and 10,469,387 loans.

Retail lending continued to be significantly affected by the COVID-19 crisis last year. With 1,252,908 new loans, there was an increase of 2.3% compared to 2020, but this figure is nevertheless 13.5% below the three-year pre-pandemic average.

Mortgage lending rallied in the first half of the year, with the number of new mortgages significantly exceeding the figures for both 2020 and 2019.  This trend subsequently changed course, however, leading to a level well below that of previous years. The figures for credit lines and instalment loans were underwhelming in the first quarter of 2021, although ground was gained in the second quarter. For credit lines, the recovery was sustained, which was not the case for instalment loans. Finally, instalment sales figures fluctuated slightly.

Decline in defaults

Despite the COVID-19 crisis, delinquencies dropped for the fifth consecutive year. At the end of 2021, 291,158 borrowers and 415,791 payment defaults were recorded in the Central Individual Credit Register, a decrease of 7.6% and 8.2%, respectively. The number of new delinquencies registered over the course of the year fell by 16.6%.

These figures are, of course, inseparable from the measures taken by the government in 2020 to give the economy a much-needed boost in the face of exceptional circumstances and to shield both businesses and households to the extent possible. One such measure was the possibility for consumers to obtain a mortgage deferral under certain conditions. Many homeowners took advantage of this option. Over 145,000 mortgage deferrals were reported to the Central Individual Credit Register. The importance of this measure for many consumers and its effectiveness are evidenced by the fact that, since the end of the deferral period, most borrowers have been able to meet their payment obligations on time. Indeed, even though normal repayment terms resumed in July 2021 for the last loans, 25% fewer defaults were recorded in the second half of the year compared to the same period in 2019, i.e. before the COVID-19 crisis.

Consultation by lenders and consumers

In the past year, lenders consulted the CICR 14.2 million times, while there were 7.2 million consultations by individuals (+0.8%). This corresponds to an average of 26,434 consultations per working day. In 5.4% of the cases, the person about whom information was sought was registered for a payment default and/or a collective debt settlement. The number of grouped consultations, which include those authorised in the context of current credit management, fell by 6.4% to 7.0 million in 2021.

In addition, 727,056 consumer requests for information about their personal data were processed. Around 95% of these were submitted online.