Overview
- National analyses published Sept. 25 show roughly 5.8 million borrowers are in arrears with about 17.8 billones pesos overdue and long‑term defaults rising about 60% year‑on‑year to roughly 3.4 million.
- Local data from the Defensoría in Buenos Aires province finds about 1.8 million residents in default, with 87% of sampled cases reporting current instalments roughly 2.5 times what households say they can pay.
- The rise in 'irrecuperables' is concentrated in small balances: half owe about 77,900 pesos or less, and non‑bank channels such as appliance stores show especially high default rates (around 54%).
- Young borrowers are disproportionately affected, with roughly 36–38% of people aged 15–29 in default, and many households owe multiple creditors—often five to seven—complicating simple, one‑size‑fits‑all solutions.
- Analysts and officials caution against blanket contract alterations and instead propose negotiated refinancings, longer terms, targeted rate relief, removal of distortive taxes on interest, and measures to curb predatory lending and youth gambling.