Consumer Credit

What does the survey comprise?
Purpose

To give a quantitative description of credit granted to individuals for the purchase of consumer goods, and the resulting debt.

Target population

Financial institutions that supply credit to individuals from their own means.

Statistical unit

Credit suppliers and credit forms.

Date/year survey started

January 1998.

Frequency

Monthly.

Publication strategy

New data are provisional when published. In July data for the previous year are made definite based on the results of a yearly survey. The data for January-May of the current year are also adjusted, but remain provisional.

Other adjustments may be made when new or additional information from respondents becomes available.

How is the survey conducted?

Survey type

Combination of a sample survey and an integral observation.

Survey method

For both the sample survey and the integral observation, the financial institutions are requested to submit the data by means of electronic forms.

Respondents

All financial institutions authorised by the Netherlands Authority for Financial Markets (AFM) to supply credit, and the municipal credit banks.

Sample size

The sample survey is carried out among a fixed panel of financial institutions accounting for more than 85 percent of the total balance of debt.

Checking and correction methods

The data received are checked with respect to internal consistency and compared with the data for the previous period. The aggregate figures are analysed by looking at the long-term development. Once a year the results of the annual integral observation are compared with those of the monthly sample survey, and any resulting discrepancies are removed.

The provisional monthly data are obtained by raising the results from the sample survey to the level of the total population. This is done by multiplying the relative growth in the sample-based results by the provisional figures for the previous month.

Weighting

N/a