Banks have displayed a bigger appetite for lending since the beginning of the year, with nearly 70% of the loan applications filed in February via loan broker Credit Zone being approved, a press release informs.
A month before, 40.5% of the loan applications brokered by Credit Zone were approved. On the other hand, the number of people interested in taking a loan has been constantly decreasing, as the overall demand for loans dropped by up to 40% year-on-year in the first months of 2009. According to Credit Zone, only 15% of the Romanians are willing to apply for a loan.
Over 85% of the loan applications filed between September 2008 and February 2009 concerned mortgage loans or mortgage-guaranteed loans. The rest were consumer loan applications. In October, nearly 37% of the Credit Zone customers managed to obtain a loan.
However, some of the Credit Zone partner banks temporarily stopped lending activities in November. Among them were Bancpost, Banca Romaneasca, Credit Europe and Volksbank. Under these circumstances, only a bit over 30% of the applications dated December 2008 were approved, Credit Zone announced.