Brazil: Judicial Debt Collection Hits Record 1.2 Million Cases in 2025
BRAZIL · ECONOMY
Key Facts
—The record: Brazilian courts received 1,239,537 new judicial debt collection cases in 2025, up about 60 percent on 2020.
—What it covers: Court enforcement of private debts proven by documents, from loans and rent to cheques. Tax debts are excluded.
—The backdrop: A record 80.4 percent of households were in debt in March 2026, and defaulters total 82.8 million adults.
—The payout: Creditors recover only 6.1 percent in São Paulo bankruptcy cases, which run more than 16 years on average.
—The response: Brasília is betting on the Desenrola Brasil renegotiation programme and new guarantee-fund-backed payroll credit.
—The catch: The justice council changed its statistics panel in June, so the 2026 comparison stops at March.
A record 1.24 million Brazilians and companies were sued over unpaid private debts in 2025, as judicial debt collection rose 60 percent in five years and household over-indebtedness set new highs.
The numbers behind the record
The data come from the National Council of Justice, known by its Portuguese initials CNJ, which oversees Brazil’s judiciary. Its statistics panel tracks extrajudicial non-fiscal enforcement, the court-driven collection of private debts.
New filings rose every year of the series: 772,645 in 2020, 838,701 in 2021, 994,098 in 2022 and 1,131,730 in 2023. The count reached 1,194,184 in 2024 and a record 1,239,537 in 2025.
The category covers debts proven by documents: bank loans, vehicle and property financing, rent, cheques and commercial invoices. It excludes tax enforcement and captures consumers and companies alike.
The first quarter of 2026 brought 295,541 new cases, according to a G1 news portal survey of the CNJ panel. A panel redesign in June broke the series, so a full-year comparison is no longer possible.
Why judicial debt collection is exploding
Household indebtedness reached 80.4 percent in March 2026, the highest since the National Confederation of Commerce began its survey. A year earlier the figure was 77.1 percent.
The Central Bank estimates that debt service consumes about 30 percent of monthly income. Total household debt equals half of a full year’s earnings.
Credit bureau Serasa counted 82.8 million defaulters in March 2026, or 50.5 percent of the adult population. The average debt was R$6,728.51 (US$1,299), with the total near R$557 billion (US$107.5 billion).
The worst delinquency rates in May 2026 were in Amapá, the Federal District, Amazonas, Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio de Janeiro. Serasa’s map shows the strain is national, not metropolitan.
Judge Káren Rick Danilevicz Bertoncello, of the Rio Grande do Sul state court, sees no culture of renegotiation among borrowers. She singles out online betting as a growing driver of new defaults.
The last resort that pays back six cents
Fernando Corrêa, a jurimetrics specialist at the Brazilian Jurimetrics Association, says enforcement is a creditor’s last resort. Suing typically pays off only after about a year of arrears, within the five-year legal limit.
The recovery math is brutal. The Insolvency Observatory of the jurimetrics association and PUC-SP, a São Paulo university, finds creditors recover 6.1 percent in the city’s bankruptcy cases.
Those cases run more than 16 years on average. Creditors themselves file 91.9 percent of bankruptcy requests, and about a third of them are financial and insurance firms.
In effect, the courts have become the collection department of last instance. That clogs dockets while returning cents on the real to the plaintiffs.
The over-indebtedness law and the court project
Brazil’s 2021 over-indebtedness law, known as the Lei do Superendividamento, places duties on creditors to lend responsibly. It also gives consumers a path to restructure their debts through the courts.
The Rio Grande do Sul court’s over-indebtedness project has handled 31,075 cases, more than 20,000 of them still active. It has produced 6,273 agreements, and 13,657 of the people served are elderly.
The model shows what judicial debt collection could look like when settlement replaces seizure. It remains a pilot in a system drowning in new filings.
What to watch from here
The first marker is the CNJ panel itself, and how its new methodology reports judicial debt collection from June onward. A comparable 2026 total may not exist until next year.
The second is Desenrola Brasil, the federal renegotiation programme. Its reach decides how many disputes ever arrive before a judge.
The third is the 2026 payroll-credit expansion, which lets private-sector workers borrow against their FGTS severance-fund balances. Cheaper credit could ease defaults, or simply add to the pile.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is judicial debt collection in Brazil?
It is the court enforcement of private debts proven by documents, such as loans, financing contracts, rent and cheques. The National Council of Justice counted a record 1,239,537 new cases in 2025.
How much did judicial debt collection grow?
New cases rose about 60 percent between 2020 and 2025, from 772,645 to 1,239,537. Filings increased in every year of the series.
Why are so many Brazilians being sued over debt?
Household indebtedness hit a record 80.4 percent in March 2026, and debt service consumes about 30 percent of monthly income. Credit bureau Serasa counted 82.8 million defaulters, half of all adults.
Do creditors actually recover money in court?
Rarely. In São Paulo bankruptcy cases, creditors recover 6.1 percent on average after proceedings lasting more than 16 years, according to the Insolvency Observatory of the Brazilian Jurimetrics Association and PUC-SP.
What is the government doing about over-indebtedness?
Brasília runs the Desenrola Brasil renegotiation programme and expanded payroll-deducted credit backed by the FGTS severance fund in 2026. The 2021 over-indebtedness law also places responsible-lending duties on creditors.
Connected Coverage
We tracked the consumer side of this squeeze in Brazil’s household loan delinquency climbing to a July record and the business side in corporate delinquency hitting 9.1 million companies with overdue debt. More from the region is on our Latin America hub.
Sources: G1 survey of the National Council of Justice statistics panel; National Confederation of Commerce Peic survey; Central Bank of Brazil; Serasa; Insolvency Observatory of the Brazilian Jurimetrics Association and PUC-SP; Rio Grande do Sul Court of Justice.
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