reported that Argentina\u2019s<\/a> economy expanded 4.4% in 2025. That growth, however, was driven mainly by agriculture and financial intermediation, two sectors that do \u201cnot translate into more money for the middle and lower classes,\u201d Cirmi Ob\u00f3n argued.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cDebt is currently filling the gap left by missing wages or insufficient income, even for people holding multiple jobs,\u201d she told the Herald.<\/p>\n
According to EcoGo, non-bank credit now accounts for 2.4% of consumer lending and amounts to 143% of the total wage bill of self-employed and informal workers.<\/p>\n
Cirmi Ob\u00f3n added that virtual wallets have become a source of borrowing partly because a large segment of the population \u201cwas excluded from the credit system, either for not meeting requirements or because of risk aversion in a country where the banking system left people out for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Ariel Paraj\u00f3n, a political scientist and specialist in drug policy, lenders of last resort emerged in the country during economic crises such as those of the late 1990s and early 2000s. \u201cThese were financial institutions or lenders where people could leave their ID card or a copy to access quick credit and obtain cash,\u201d he said, adding that fintech companies replaced them.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnological infrastructure allows you to have the casino, in the case of digital betting, and the bank that lends you money on the same device,\u201d said Paraj\u00f3n. \u201cPermanent immediacy, the acceleration of information flow, and economic urgencies lead to a lack of reflection,\u201d he said, adding that apps concentrate the information on users\u2019 money movements that could become proposals to take debt.<\/p>\n
Cirmi Ob\u00f3n agrees, adding that fintech companies often charge higher or less regulated interest rates to cover that risk. \u201cBut there\u2019s also another factor: the profound lack of financial education we all have,\u201d said the economist, who is also part of the Paridad Macro and Futuros Mejores initiatives.<\/p>\n
Today, for example, the Annual Total Financial Cost (which includes interest, insurance, commissions, and administrative fees) of a 12-month personal loan from Mercado Pago can range between 400% and 500%. By comparison, a similar loan from Banco Naci\u00f3n (without signing up for its \u201cCuenta Naci\u00f3n\u201d service package) carries a rate of 169%. This reporter tested it: on the app founded by Marcos Galper\u00edn, a AR$916,146 loan could be repaid in 12 monthly installments of AR$158,369.89 \u2014 meaning a total repayment exceeding AR$1.9 million, more than double the amount borrowed, and that\u2019s without factoring in additional charges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe space that used to be occupied by companies offering usurious loans is now in these apps, which also often allow people to use credit to pay for basic expenses. That\u2019s largely what people are covering with these loans,\u201d the economist added.<\/p>\n
According to a report by the Institute of Statistics and Social and Economic Trends at the C\u00f3rdoba Grocers\u2019 Center, 88.1% of households in that province financed food purchases through credit cards, virtual wallets, store credit, or borrowed money. That means only 11.9% were able to cover those expenses without resorting to some form of financing.<\/p>\n
\u201cA much faster digital access means that many people are taking on debt right now without even realizing it. We have countless cases like that,\u201d Cirmi Ob\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n
In her view, these apps need to be regulated and taxed \u2014 not only on interest rates. It would be, she argues, \u201can opportunity for the state to understand a world that until now has been informal,\u201d as well as a chance to support people who rely on virtual wallets and even \u201cimprove tax collection to fund future pensions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a video that went viral again this week, a young woman explains her financial strategy: \u201cI take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[102482,1530,165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-499075","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-economic-crisis","9":"tag-fintech","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}