The economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing down the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rising unemployment rates, has led many Brazilians to negotiate debts. Fintech Acerto Certo, focused on online negotiating debts, saw a 240% increase in its number of agreements, from 1.2 million to 4.2 million in 2020.
Company data shows that Brazilians are more indebted to telecommunications companies, which account for 62% of the 83 million debts negotiated via the platform. Insurance companies and retailers come next, with 21% and 10% of debts, respectively.
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Acordo Certo, which was recently acquired by Boa Vista, has a user base of 15 million people and has recovered more than R $ 288 million in debt arrears in 2020.
According to Roberto Góis, new business director at Acordo Certo, the emergency aid paid by the Federal Government to the poorest last year stimulated the Brazilian to seek debt renegotiation. Bad debt, he says, has dropped significantly in the last three months of 2020 compared to the first months of 2021.
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“We noticed that there was a drop in credit recovery earlier this year. This drop is normal at the beginning of the year due to extra bills, such as taxes, insurance, and school enrollment ”, explains Roberto.
However, he notes that the Federal Government’s lack of definition regarding the continuity of emergency payments and the amount that will be paid raises doubts in the market. “We do not yet know whether the absence of this income will impact default rates,” he said.
