The start of 2026 confirms a change of cycle for the family economy

The combination of High interest rates, more expensive credit and lower savings capacity marks the start of 2026 for households. This is not a one-time adjustment or a temporary rebound, but rather a more demanding financial environment that is beginning to settle after several months of tightening conditions.

Families simultaneously face more expensive mortgages and high-interest consumer credit, with an increasingly reduced savings margin. It is the still image with which the year begins and that begins to be transferred to daily financial decisions, in a context marked by a Euribor that is around 2.3%, an average interest on personal loans around 7.2% APR, and official rates in the eurozone stabilized at 2%.

The Euribor consolidates high levels

In recent months, the Euribor has left behind the idea of ​​a temporary rebound and has settled at levels clearly higher than those of previous years. Throughout 2025, the main reference index for variable mortgages went from moving around 1.9% to closing December around 2.3%, after chaining several consecutive months of increases.

This movement is beginning to be transferred to mortgage reviews, although unevenly. Olivia Feldman, economist at HelpMyCash, explains that the impact It depends largely on the frequency of the review. In mortgages with annual review, many installments still go down because the current Euribor is still below the level of a year ago. In semiannual reviews, however, upward adjustments are more common, although moderately.

This effect may intensify in the coming months whether the index stabilizes or rebounds. In an average 25-year mortgage, less favorable reviews can translate into increases of several tens of euros per month, added pressure at a time when the cost of living remains high.

The maintenance of official rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) reinforces this scenario. The deposit facility remains at 2% after several meetings without changes, a pause that consolidates the increase in the cost of financing and distances, at least in the short term, relief for indebted households.

Consumer credit gains prominence

The impact of the monetary environment is not limited to mortgages. Consumer credit enters 2026 with a growing weight in family budgets and with figures that are approaching highs in more than a decade. The outstanding balance of consumer loans stood at close to €200 billion in 2025, after resuming the upward trend in the second half of the year.

Personal loans, deferred financing and credit cards have become a common tool to cover current expenses. Unlike other cycles, this type of financing does not act as one-time support, but rather as a structural piece of the financial balance of many householdsjust when the interest rates applied to these products remain high.

From Kelisto they point out that this greater use of credit is also reflected in the behavior of users. In recent weeks, searches for loans and cards have rebounded stronglya common pattern after Christmas but which, at the beginning of the year, points to a more persistent need for liquidity.

Credit cards concentrate a good part of this pressure. In many cases, interest rates higher than 20% APR are applied, a cost that lasts over time and progressively reduces disposable income. The effect is not perceived all at once, but month by month, as the interest accumulates and gains weight in the family budget.

High savings, but at a slower rate

Faced with the rise in debt, the behavior of savings shows a more nuanced evolution. The total volume of household savings in the banking system remains at historic highs. The money in demand accounts alone reaches 920,000 million euros, to which are added some 159,000 million in deposits, according to the latest data available from November 2025.

What has changed is the pace of generation of that savings. After the peak recorded during the pandemic, when the household savings rate reached 14.8% of disposable income in 2020, this has moderated to 12.4% in the second quarter of 2025, according to the INE. Feldman highlights the difference between the accumulated stock and the current rate, a dichotomy that explains why high levels of savings coexist with a rebound in consumer credit.

Reorganize debt in a more demanding environment

In this context, some families are beginning to review the structure of their debt. Feldman points out that mortgage renegotiation or subrogation can be an option when current conditions represent a improves and the debt does not exceed 80% of the value of the homealthough it recognizes that in low-value mortgages the alternatives are usually more limited.

Loan reunification also gains prominence. From Kelisto they point out that this type of operations usually intensifies when the monthly burden of consumer credit begins to outweigh the mortgage itself, an additional symptom of the change in the financial cycle that households face.

The start of 2026 thus leaves a clear reading in the data and in the behavior of families. Mortgages, cards and loans come together under the same common denominator, with fewer buffers than in previous years. It is this overlap that defines the change in cycle that is beginning to take hold in the family economy.