Delinquency rise accelerates: household credit hits new record in April
Household delinquency reached 12% in the fourth month of the year, a high in more than two decades; the situation is even more critical in virtual wallets, where it jumped to 31.5%
- May 30, 2026
- 12:09
- 4 minutes read
Listen to Note
Follow on
In April, delinquency among Argentine households accelerated Freepik
Follow on
The delinquency rate of the Argentine financial system rose again in April and accelerated compared to the previous month, after having shown signs that the credit deterioration cycle could be coming to an end last month.
According to an analysis by consulting firm 1816 based on data from the Central Bank's Debtor Central (Cendeu), irregularity in household credit rose from 11.5% in March to 12% in April. This represents an increase in delinquency, since in the third month of the year it grew 0.3 percentage points and the following month it rose 0.5. Thus, it increased for 18 consecutive months and set records in more than two decades.
Delinquency among Argentine households was 2.5% in October 2024, showing that it multiplied by almost five in a year and a half.
The acceleration in Argentine household delinquency casts doubt on whether it will peak in the coming months Shutterstock
“ While it is still possible that we will see a peak in delinquency at some point in the second quarter of 2026, there are now reasons to have some doubts about it,” the report notes.
This increase in irregularity in household credit occurs in a period when “ GDP continued to grow,” the text points out, suggesting that the general economic growth was not sufficient to alleviate the financial burden on households.
Companies, meanwhile, recorded a 0.2-point increase in delinquency: the figure went from 3.1% in March to 3.3% in April. Total private sector delinquency rose from 7% to 7.3%.
This increase was reported in most banks. Of the 30 largest entities in terms of household lending, consulting firm 1816 calculated that it rose in 26 of them in April compared to March.
The same occurred in virtual wallets, where delinquency reached 31.5%, 2.6 times higher than in banks. Total financing from non-financial entities represents about 17% of household loans, where Tarjeta Naranja and Mercado Libre hold more than 50% of the entire sector's credit.
These are preliminary data expected to be confirmed in a month from the April Banks Report that the Central Bank (BCRA) will publish at the end of June.
Delinquency in non-bank entities reached 31.5% in April, almost three times that in regulated banks, where household irregularity hit a two-decade record Cecilia Di Dio - Shutterstock
The latest data published by the financial entity indicated that the bank credit default rate in March was 3.5 times higher than the same month in 2025 and reached its highest level in 21 years. For BCRA authorities and some bankers, these numbers had marked their “peak” before a change in trend that would begin to be seen in the coming months. However, the data provided by the consulting firm does not point in that direction.
The report details that one of the problems with the high delinquency phenomenon is that many individuals will cease to be “creditworthy” for a while, which will limit the expansion of loans to households in the immediate future. It is estimated that 26.7% of people who have some credit in the financial system are in an irregular situation, which reaches about 5.3 million people.
“That means that, at least from now until next year’s elections (if there are primary elections, they will be in just 14 months), it is unlikely that household credit can be a very relevant driver of economic activity,” the consulting firm pointed out. However, given the low penetration of credit in Argentina (about 12% of GDP), this “would not prevent the economy from expanding.”
“Part of the difficulty for loans to recover is that lending rates remain very high in real terms, partly due precisely to the high delinquency,” the document added. This is observed in the fact that, while the REPO rate (reference) fell from 39.3% to 20.3% between January and May, the rate for personal loans barely moved from 68.8% to 66.9%.
