“The younger generation’s way of handling money is much better than we imagined,” said Michael Freytag, head of the Schufa credit institute which carried out the study.

The group found out that in 2012 one in five 18 to 19-year-old Germans took out a bank loan, for example to buy a car or furniture, and that 96.6 percent paid it back without a problem.

This figure was the same in the 18 to 24 age bracket and fell just below the national figure of 97.5 percent – signalling that young people do not have considerably more difficult time managing their finances.

Admittedly though, the older a person taking out a loan was, the higher the amount tended to be. For 18 to 19-year-olds, this figure was on average €3663 while among 55 to 59-year-olds, the average loan was €9066 – an increase of 7.2 percent since 2011.

Schufa also asked young people about their attitudes towards planning for the future, money-wise. At least 78 percent said that it was something they thought about. One in ten admitted to struggling to keep track of their assets, although 72 percent said they did not have a problem.

Just under 45 percent said that they found understanding different ways of saving too complicated and just one in three said they completely understood all the banking options open to them.

DPA/The Local/jcw