Record personal loans for car, home improvement in 2024
A record €2.5 billion worth of personal loans were drawn down last year.
These included loans for cars, home improvement works, holidays and weddings.
The figures from Banking and Payments Federation Ireland show that loan values increased by 20% on the previous year, while volumes jumped 13%.
In total, almost 230,000 loans were drawn down in 2024.
66,000 of those loans were for cars, valued at €856 million.
The volume of these loans increased by over 14%, while the value jumped over 20%.
The average car or auto finance loan increased for the fourth year in a row, rising by €607 to €12,926 in 2024.
Home improvement loans were the next most popular, with just over 60,000 drawn down last year, valued at €754 million.
That is up 7% in volume and 19% in value when compared to the previous year.
The average home improvement loan increased by €1,313 in 2024 to €12,502.
The report also shows a rise in the number of loans drawn down for ‘other purposes’, such as education, holidays and special occasions such as weddings.
102,894 such loans were drawn down last year, valued at €840 million.
That is up 16% in volume and over 25% in value.
The average loan value in the final quarter of 2024 for ‘other loans’ increased to €8,106 up from €7,900 during the same period in 2023.
The report also looks at green loans, which include green car and auto finance loans, and green home improvement loans.
In annual terms, there were 5,178 green personal loans valued at €120 million in 2024, with volumes and values increasing by 21% and 25.5%.
The average green loan was relatively high at €22,795 in the final three months of last year, more than twice the average of €10,425 for all loans in the same quarter.
Today’s figures come as the Central Bank of Ireland reported that there was more than €13 billion in outstanding consumer credit at the end of March 2025, the highest level since February 2020.
Article Source – Record personal loans for car, home improvement in 2024 – RTE