OREANDA-NEWS. June 03, 2011. During the first four months this year, the sum of the consumer loans issued to residents by Bank SNORAS, in comparison to the same period last year, grew by 2.6 times, whereas the number of the issued consumer loans almost doubled. Bank SNORAS forecasts that this year the volumes of the consumer loans should reach the pre-crisis level of the year 2008, reported the press-centre of Bank SNORAS.

“The greatest impact on these indicators was made by the resurgent national market and the general recovery of the economy. The residents of Lithuania began assessing their financial possibilities more optimistically. It is also demonstrated by the increased average sum of the consumer loan issued by the bank – in January - April this year it comprised LTL 9.5 thousand and was about 40 per cent larger than in the same period last year,” says Zorzas Sarafanovicius, the deputy chairman of AB Bank SNORAS Board, the director of Retail Business Division. “If such trends remain later on, then by the end of the year the volumes of the bank's consumer loans should reach the level which was before the crisis.”

During the first four months this year, the larger part of the residents, who took consumer loans in Bank SNORAS – 55 per cent – comprised men. On the other hand, women take loans more responsibly and while repaying the loans they are more disciplined than men.

“The trend continues to remain that the consumer loans are mostly taken by the residents of the country who have high university education. This year Bank SNORAS has issued more than 40 per cent of all consumer loans to such clients,” states the deputy chairman of AB Bank SNORAS Board, the director of Retail Business Division.

According to Z. Sarafanovicius, residents most often use consumer loans to improve the housing and economic conditions: for housing renovation, for purchasing furniture, household and electronic equipment, less frequently money is borrowed for a car. Moreover, as summer is approaching, more and more borrowers designate the consumer loan for vacation trips.

The automated system of Bank SNORAS provides the opportunity to issue a loan up to LTL 10,000 to clients, after evaluating their solvency, within several minutes since the moment of submitting the application in any customer service subdivision of the bank, including the largest network of mini-banks “Snoras” providing banking services in the country. A loan is issued in the e-banking system of the bank even faster. The maximum consumer loan granted by Bank SNORAS amounts to LTL 50,000. The interest rates of the consumer loans issued by Bank SNORAS in litas are among the lowest in the market and they amount from 8 per cent a year.