Debt Collector Sees Signs Swedes Starting to Struggle With Loans

Europe’s biggest debt collector says an increase in volumes in Sweden and Norway could be an early indication that households are starting to struggle paying off their consumer loans after debt burdens swelled to records.

Volumes under Intrum AB’s existing credit-management services contracts in the two countries, in which it collects money from non-paying clients of financial institutions, grew by more than 15 percent in the first half of the year. That could indicate that households are getting increasingly stretched in terms of meeting their obligations on the unsecured consumer loans that Intrum specializes in, according to Chief Executive Officer Mikael Ericson.