Citizens' debt hits record high: 42 million citizens in debt

The March 2025 data of the Turkish Banking Association Risk Center revealed the striking dimensions that individual debt has reached. While the total individual debt balance consisting of housing, vehicle, consumer loans, credit cards and overdraft accounts reached a record level, the number of people using loans increased to 42 million 159 thousand. The average of this debt per person exceeded 100 thousand TL, exceeding a historical threshold.

CREDIT CARD DEBT EXCEEDS 2 TRILLION TL

Credit card spending, one of the most striking items of individual debt, has exceeded 2 trillion 36 billion TL as of 2025. The number of credit card users, which was 37.2 million in March 2024, increased to 39.1 million in just one year. In an inflationary environment, consumers are forced to meet even their basic needs with credit cards.

EXPLOSION IN CREDIT DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS

According to the news in BirGün; Credit Deposit Accounts (KMH), another short-term borrowing method, has also shown a significant increase in recent times. The total KMH balance, which was 220 billion TL in 2024, increased by 135 percent in one year and reached 518 billion TL. While the number of people using KMH increased to 30.5 million, the average debt per person was 16,975 TL. It was also reported that 3.6 percent of the debts belonging to these accounts have entered the liquidation process.

CONSUMER LOANS ARE DECREASING, DEBT BURDEN IS INCREASING

Access to consumer loans has become difficult due to tight monetary policies. Although the number of people using consumer loans, which was 13.4 million in 2024, decreased to 11.1 million by 2025, the debt per capita increased from 66 thousand TL to approximately 98 thousand TL. The debt rate to be liquidated has reached 5 percent.

PEOPLE DON'T TRUST THE ECONOMY

Along with individual debt, the public’s economic expectations have also turned negative. According to the Turkey Report prepared by Istanbul Economic Research, 71 percent of the public evaluates the current economic situation as “bad” or “very bad.” Future expectations are also pessimistic: Only 21 percent of participants expect an improvement in the economy.

INCOME-EXPENSE GAP IS GROWING

Another noteworthy finding in the report was the income-expenditure balance. The rate of those who said, “My income did not cover my expenses” was 66 percent among the unemployed. This rate was measured as 64 percent among daily wage workers. A significant portion of retirees, those not looking for work and public employees responded, “My income barely covered my expenses.”

Source: Decision