Brazil Household Debt Hits 80.2% in February as Delinquency Ticks Up

Overview

• CNC reports a record 80.2% of families with debt in February, with overdue accounts rising to 29.6% in the first monthly increase after three months of declines.
• The average time in arrears reached 65.1 months, with 49.5% of delinquent debts past 90 days, signaling longer and harder-to-resolve defaults.
• Household income committed to debt averaged 29.7%, and 19.5% of consumers devoted more than half of their income to servicing obligations.
• São Paulo city saw 70% of households indebted (about 3.1 million) and 20.4% with overdue bills, while 53.5% of delinquent families reported debts older than 90 days and 9% said they cannot clear arrears.
• Credit cards remain the dominant liability, and CNC projects indebtedness to keep rising into the first half of 2026 as analysts, including Daycoval’s Rafael Cardoso, point to very high interest rates as a key strain.