Debts for utility bills and loan obligations are a burden for some pensioners, and their already low income is further reduced by garnishments. According to the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO), there were around 18,000 garnishments in July, most of them for loans and utility bills.

Pensioners also have other debts. The good news, however, is that garnishments have fallen by 15 per cent compared to the first half of last year.

According to the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, a total of just over 18,000 garnishments were carried out on users’ pensions in July 2024. Given the total number of around 1.2 million users, this is a relatively small proportion of “blocked” pensioners.

Garnishments 15 per cent lower than last year

Pensioners owe the most on loans, utility bills and other financial obligations and debts. In July, there were 16,178 such garnishments, i.e., the vast majority. There were also 1,587 garnishments for legal support and child support, and 333 garnishments in favour of private individuals, which generally involve the collection of other types of debt. However, the total number of garnishments has decreased compared to last year, according to data from the HZMO for the news site Mirovina.hr.

For the period from January to July 2023, a total of 153,367 garnishments were made from users’ pensions, while 129,840 garnishments were made for the period from January to July 2024. This means that around 15 per cent fewer garnishments were made for the same period in 2024 than in 2023, according to the Pension Insurance Institute.

The number of pensioners who have been blocked is higher

The records of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) are based on the number of garnishments carried out and not on the number of users. The number of garnished users is usually smaller than the number of garnishments, as one user may have several garnishments.

A total of 204,000 Croatian citizens have blocked accounts due to debts.

This includes more than 30,000 pensioners, according to data from the Croatian Financial Agency (Fina), which is higher than the data reported by HZMO.

Fina’s data shows that pensioners’ accounts have been blocked continuously for more than six years. The average debt per person, including interest, is around 31,000 euros. In addition, around 49,000 pensioners have declared their pension as protected income. Most debts are owed to the state, banks, and other financial institutions.