Estonians least eager in Baltics to take out payday loans - Citadele

TALLINN - The results of a survey commissioned by Citadele bank and carried out by pollster Norstat show that 15 percent of the survey respondents in Estonia have taken out or are regularly taking out payday loans, whereas the corresponding figure was 30 percent in Latvia and 22 percent in Lithuania.

Marina Hakiainen, head of retail banking at the Estonian branch of Citadele Bank, said in a press release that none of the respondents from Estonia said that they regularly use payday loans for covering their daily expenses.

"Six percent of the respondents from Estonia said that they have used payday loans but that they have managed to successfully repay them. 3 percent said that they have previously struggled to repay such loans," Hakiainen noted.

The consumption of payday loans is much more widespread in Lithuania and Latvia, however. While 76 percent of the respondents in Estonia said that they had never taken out a payday loan, the corresponding figure was 64 percent in Latvia and 70 percent in Lithuania. 8 percent of the respondents said that they only used banks for consuming various loan products.

The study by Citadele also surveyed the situations in which people are willing to take out a loan.

"What's positive is that there are only a couple of percent of people who are willing to borrow money in order to make a monthly repayment of another loan or to cover their daily expenses," Hakiainen said.

There are many situations in which people are willing to take out a loan that financial experts advise against.

"For instance, 4 percent of people in the Baltics would take out a loan to organize a wedding or for traveling and 3 percent would be willing to borrow money if favorable investment opportunities arose, for instance with cryptocurrencies or shares," Hakiainen noted.

The largest share of people in the Baltic states would be willing to borrow money for home renovations -- 30 percent of people in Estonia, 28 percent in Latvia and 27 percent in Lithuania. 29 percent of people in Estonia, 28 percent in Latvia and 27 percent in Lithuania would take out a payday loan to purchase a car.

Fourteen percent of people in Estonia, 13 percent in Latvia and 15 percent in Lithuania would borrow to cover health costs and 11 percent in Estonia, 13 percent in Latvia and 7 percent in Lithuania said that they would take out a loan for the purposes of education.

Some 42 percent of people in Estonia said that they do not borrow money, the corresponding figure was 41 percent in Latvia and 44 percent in Lithuania.

Citadele Group is a Latvian financial group that provides financial and asset management services. The Citadele Group is headquartered in Riga, with subsidiaries and branches in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Switzerland.