When the holidays are approaching and the wallet is empty, more than one in eight young Swedes choose to take out a loan to get the holiday fund together.
One who will borrow money for this summer’s trip is Ahmed Alsadai.
– I will borrow SEK 70,000, he says.
After a year of high interest rates and rising prices, more than one in eight young Swedes between 18 and 29 choose to borrow money to finance their vacation. This is according to a new survey from Yougov, carried out on behalf of Nordnet.
The result worries Frida Bratt, savings economist at Nordnet.
– I think it is problematic if, as a young person, you feel so early that loans are a good option to finance something that you may not have money for, says Frida Bratt.
Risk of loan spiral
Ahmed Alsadai from Gothenburg is one of those who intends to borrow money for this year’s holiday.
– I start the holiday in a month and will borrow SEK 70,000. I will travel to the Netherlands and meet my family there, says Ahmed Alsadai.
How will you be able to repay the money?
– I will work hard.
But Frida Bratt sees long-term risks with the holiday loans.
– We know that this type of loan is expensive and the interest rates are high and take time to pay off. The risk is that you end up in a loan spiral that is difficult to get out of.
Home stay?
And not everyone turns to loans when the piggy bank is empty.
– It feels short-term and unnecessary, says Julia Olsson.
Instead, she tries to arrange a cheaper summer vacation.
– It doesn’t take much to have a good time. You can go out to a lake here in Gothenburg if you can’t afford to go anywhere, says Julia Olsson.