Banks and companies checked 8.15 million people, or one in four adult Poles (26%) in the BIG InfoMonitor Debtor Register in 2023, according to BIG InfoMonitor data. Last year, 22%, or almost 1.8 million people who were checked turned out to be unreliable payers. The database currently lists almost 2.1 million debtors who have failed to pay, among others, telecommunication bills, alimonies, court costs, fines for driving without a ticket, rents or loan instalments worth a total of almost PLN 47 billion.
The number of downloaded reports on consumers’ payment reliability reached almost 28 million in 2023, which was nearly 4 million more than the year before. Verified consumers also increased by one million. The increased number of enquiries about payment reliability concerned everyone, regardless of age and gender, although slightly more so those under 30 (their share increased from 16 to 18%) and to a lesser extent those over 70 (the share fell from 7.4 to 6.8%). Almost every second consumer screened was aged between 31 and 50. In terms of gender, men generally predominate (53%), but from the age of 60 onwards this changes in favour of women, it stated.
“Last year, 22%, or almost 1.8 million people who were checked, turned out to be unreliable payers. More than one in five people had already failed to settle some obligation and wanted to take on another. Such information is a significant reduction of the risk of losses for the companies servicing them, but for the debtor it is a signal that something should be done about the situation,” said the president of BIG InfoMonitor Slawomir Grzelczak.
Source: BIG InfoMonitor and ISBnews
