Six million euros a day in car loans

The accumulated values ​​by September show that the Portuguese requested a total of 1,581 million euros for the purchase of passenger cars, but only about 282 million euros were directed towards the purchase of new cars.

Last year, the same discrepancy was recorded in the context of this year’s lack of new vehicles for delivery due to the lack of components. During 2021, ASFAC members provided 1,423 million euros from January to September – about 11% less than this year – for car purchases, allocating 249 million for new cars.

In particular, in the third quarter of this year and compared to 2021, these specialized loan companies, including Credibom, BMW Group and Cofidis, financed the purchase of cars for personal use in the amount of about 158 ​​million euros.

Globally, in the first nine months of the year, more than 2.8 billion euros were provided to families for the purchase of goods and services, including cars, which is about 500 million euros more than in 2021.

It should be remembered that the Bank of Portugal sets the maximum allowable interest rates on a quarterly basis, depending on the purpose of financing. Thus, for the fourth quarter, the minimum rate was set at 3.3% (financial leasing or ALD: new cars) and the maximum at 16% (credit cards and lines and overdrafts).