MANILA - Consumer finance company Home Credit on Tuesday said laptops and bicycles have recently become the top items for customers applying for loans.

"Home Credit is known for financing mobile phones, but recently, it is very important, the laptops. It is back to school season, we grew a lot of our business in the laptops,” said Zdenek Jankovsky, Home Credit Philippines Director and Treasurer.

Bicycles were another hot item for borrowers, Jankovsky said.

“And in recent years, when people are more focused on [a] different type of exercise. Where they can and cannot go, for example, bikes became very popular for financing through Home Credit.”

Home Credit Philippines said it has so far not seen any negative impact from the monetary policy tightening of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The BSP has so far raised interest rates by 175 basis points this year in an attempt to tame inflation by reining in spending and consumption.

But Zdenek Jankovsky, Home Credit Philippines Director and Treasurer said he has yet to see the rate hikes affect consumer behavior.

"I would not say that there is impact on the consumption from the monetary tightening at this time,” Jankovsky said.

For the average Home Credit borrower, loans would range between P12,000 and P15,000. The company rewards good borrowers with higher loan amounts of between P30,000 and P40,000.

Jankovsky says they did not observe any increase in bad debt.

“When it comes to the diligence of our customers, we are very happy with the performance of our portfolio. It is doing well.”

BSP data showed consumer loan growth accelerated to 10.6 percent in June, from just 8.5 percent in May, driven by year-on-year increases in credit card loans and salary-based general purpose consumption loans.

Home Credit said it caters to a wider customer base.

“The credit cards are only extended to about 5 percent of the population, we are going beyond that. Our customers are a little bit different from the typical credit card holders,” Jankovsky said.

The company said it has disbursed P178 billion pesos in loans to nearly 9 million Filipino consumers since 2013. The company said it is also present in some 10,000 points of sale across the Philippines and is also available through online and mobile channels.

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