Abridged English version of the SCHUFA Credit Compass 2008

Debt Compass | Retrospective Glance
16
2006 Debt Compass
In 2006, for the first time, SCHUFA developed the so-called Private Debt Index (PDI). As a statistical
key figure, the PDI measures the extent of critical indicators of private debt in Germany’s
16 federal states and 439 counties.
Calculations of the PDI for Germany in 2005 show a total increase of 4.1 percent. It was clear,
however, that compared to previous years’ increase of 6.6 percent between 2003 and 2005,
the increase between 2005 and 2006 was, with 2.5 percentage points, significantly lower.
On the basis of the socio-economic panel (SOEP), Gunter E. Zimmermann calculated in an external
analysis the development of over-indebted households with consumer loans and mortgages in
Germany. This analysis showed a total of about 3 million over-indebted households. Compared
to the previous year, the number of households thus remained at a constant level. In the analysis
based on those households that were over-indebted with consumer loans alone, however, there
was a significant decrease. Here, in 2005, the number of households that were over-indebted as
a result of consumer loans was between 1.0 million and 1.9 million whereas in 2004 the total
was between 1.3 million and 2.9 million households.
With an external pilot study from the Berlin Institute for Social Research (BIS) and on the basis the
2006 pre-test, served as an initial analysis for the SOEP 2006 the debt indicators were expanded
through the addition of subjective evaluations. In addition to the usual social data (age, sex, education,
way of life, etc.) personality characteristics were tested along with other soft indicators
(account overdraft, length of the account overdraft, etc.) which could indicate problems in handling
money. The study determined, among other things, that there is no connection between
household income and account overdrafts. 1 According to the BIS, an important element for overcoming
difficult financial situations is social integration.
The Institute for Youth Research supplemented the analyses of the Debt Compass 2005 on young
adults (18 to 24 years of age) with a study on the debt behaviour of youths (10 to 17 years of
age). The Youth Study attests to a greater amount of financial competence for the 1,000 interviewees
than had been suspected. Particularly positive were the findings on saving behaviour.
84 percent of those interviewed had saved an average of EUR 1,000. It was also interesting that
the debt of those youths interviewed was independent of their social situation.
1 Today the Institute for Youth Research is part of the Synovate market research group and is called Synovate Kids + Teens.