No matter what your role is with money, in one way or another, it’s always connected to the companies or individuals around you. Financial relationships place us in a connection with the surrounding economic environment, and our planning skills help us navigate through challenging times.
The finance ecosystem created by the company Aktiva Finance Group comprises various business entities. Together, they enable optimal transaction partner selection, customer verification (KYC), bill payment and transmission, as well as collection services and debt portfolio management. The company’s CMO Raili Somelar sheds light on the intricacies of the finance ecosystem from the perspective of an individual client’s financial etiquette.
For some reason, we’ve become accustomed to thinking that everything we do, we do for ourselves. In the financial world, it can be the opposite; what we neglect might affect others. If we could all think that my financial decisions, obligations, and discipline are calculated within a system and are part of the proper functioning of the economy, the overall picture would be much more beautiful.
A simplified example: I own a monthly sports club membership with a fee of 50 euros. If I leave it unpaid, it might seem that nothing fatal happens. However, if another 1000 people think similarly, it adds up to 50,000 euros, and that’s no longer a small amount. It affects the sports club, leading to things not being done, such as investments, repairs, salary payments.
While 30% of Lithuanians use the Perfi platform to pay everyday bills (electricity, rent, utility bills, hobby groups, etc.), among Estonians, this still requires adaptation. A large number of Estonians have so far preferred to use bank direct debits, but only a small number of them uses analytics that would help systematize costs and draw conclusions.
Telling fact: according to Krediidiregister OÜ, in 2023, at least one payment default is registered for 83,253 individuals. Compared to 2020, when at least 101,000 people were facing payment difficulties, this number is consistently decreasing. The trend continues that the number of people facing payment difficulties has been slightly decreasing in recent years. However, the average debt amount of debtors is continuously increasing. Given the overall increase of prices, this can be easily explained as well.
By the way, Julianus Inkasso OÜ registered nearly 40,000 claims during the first half of 2023, with an average amount slightly exceeding 500 euros. Meanwhile, the proportion of parking-related claims in the portfolio has increased, impacting the size of the average claim.
Certainly, the inability of individuals to plan their cash flows, excessive risk-taking, or, for example, the lack of utilization of necessary financial literacy platforms, plays a significant role here. But, just having the ability to link all my bank accounts into a neutral environment, make payments with a single click, receive reminders, categorize, and then save them to the archive based on these systems could provide additional support for our financial wisdom.
At Impact Day 2023, a novel payment management platform called Perfi was presented. Get acquainted with it on the perfi.ee website.
