BRUSSELS — The number of bad debtors in Belgium increased last year for the second year in a row.

The number of people who defaulted on debts rose by 2 percent in 2005 to 343,020, newspaper ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ reported on Thursday.

Tallied together, the nation’s bad debtors have a total debt of EUR 1.8 billion — down 5 percent on 2004 — or an average of EUR 4,305.
 
The National Bank registered 6.8 million credit agreements last year, or 2.3 percent more than in 2004.

Two out of every three Belgians between the ages of 25 and 64 have at least one loan outstanding.

Some 4.1 percent have six to 10 loans and 0.2 percent have 11 or more loans, the nation’s central bank said.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of Belgian residents are having problems paying for home or car insurance, the central database for special risks, Datassur, said.

Bad debtors, accident-prone people and fraudulent people end up on an insurance blacklist.

Insurers use the list to determine whether they are dealing with a so-called ‘risk client’.

Some 50,000 Belgians were added to the list last year, 13 percent more than in 2004.

[Copyright Expatica News 2006]

Subject: Belgian news