The behavior of Italian families regarding the credit confirm that people’s economic choices they do not exclusively follow rational logic but are influenced by emotional, cultural and social variables. Economic decisions are increasingly the result of the pooling of rational considerations, experiences, feelings and circumstances.
This is what emerges from research CRIF – SDA Bocconi – Assofin 2024presented to Tomorrow SpeaksCRIF’s annual event on evolution and innovation in the financial market. Through a sample survey of over 1100 people, the research analyzed the different behaviors with respect to expenses and the use of credit.
The five profiles of financial behavior
In the research, analyzes were conducted to identify the fundamental drivers of Italians’ financial behavior. Five homogeneous groups of people thus emerge, each with its own propensity towards resorting to credit: the 45% of people belongs to group of the “Strong” thanks to the solidity of their knowledge, financial and behavioral profile13% are “Weak” because they have a fragile financial situation and low financial competence, 14% are “Vulnerable” because they are still financially fragile but more aware than the Weak, 16% are “Fearful” with good solidity assets but extremely risk averse and, finally, 12% are “Dynamic” and therefore aware, financially solid and use credit as a family budget management tool.
The perception of consumer credit
The research reveals different behaviors and perceptions regarding consumer credit on the part of Italians. With regard to those who do not resort to credit47% of people prefer to use their savings rather than resort to financing. However, the research reveals that almost 50%, among those who do not usually use credit, would declare themselves willing to resort to a loan in case of need for liquidity, while 31.4% consider it completely normal to have a loan in addition to the mortgage .
Those who usually use credit instead it does so for various reasons: there are those who use it as a tool for managing the family budget and for compensation between income income and cash outflows, others instead get into debt out of necessity, still others because they either don’t know how to control their expenses or are inclined to impulse purchases.
Cultural, gender and professional aspects influence people’s attitudes towards consumer credit. Se it women are more cautious (to the question “Opportunities must be seized quickly, we will worry later about how to cover the expenses” the figure of maximum agreement – however a minority – is made up of 62% of men and only 38% of women) and, in certain respects, concrete (to the question “What would you use a loan for” the agreement with the answer “only for important expenses” is given by 56% of women compared to 44% of men while the option that calls into question “convenience” has reversed values, 58% men and 42% women), however, they suffer from less financial knowledge and competence (to the question “do you find financial services complicated”, the answer of maximum agreement is given by 62% of women and 38% of men who instead disagree with the statement in question at 58% compared to 42% of women). From another perspective it should be noted that having “tried” credit allows you to free yourself from a series of fears and prejudices and allows you to approach financing with more maturity and rationality (to the question “having a loan means having a debt or having credit” the maximum agreement on the notion of credit it is provided by those who have ongoing financing, 59%, compared to those who do not, 41%; and to the question “having a loan is one thing “normal»” the greatest agreement is expressed by those who have ongoing financing, 67%, compared to those who don’t, 33%).
