Bulgarians take out loans for diverse reasons - from funding an election campaign to organizing a wedding, experts from one of the loan consultancy companies in Bulgaria, CreditCentre say.

The biggest mortgage taken out by a natural person is for 500,000 euros for a flat in Sofia. The loan has a term of 25 years and the monthly installment is 3,500 euros. The CreditCentre experts have seen far smaller loans - the smallest mortgage by a natural person they have consulted is for 9,000 leva (roughly equal to 4,500 euros) to buy a house in Lyaskovets, Northern Bulgaria. The loan has a term of ten years and the monthly installment is just 118 leva.

A mortgage in Bourgas, on the Black Sea, was taken out for the shortest time of nine days. The loan is for 30,000 euros with a 30-year term and monthly installment of 206 euros. The longest waiting time for a mortgage was in Plovdiv, Southern Bulgaria, where a loan of 240,000 euros was taken out after eleven months.

The fastest granted consumer loan was in Rousse, Northeastern Bulgaria. The whole procedure took 24 hours. The loan is for 1,000 leva with a term of three years and monthly installment of 35 leva. The slowest granted consumer loan was for 17,000 leva, with a term of seven years and monthly installment of 320 leva. It was taken out in Veliko Turnovi, Northern Bulgaria.

The CreditCentre experts provided consultancy services to a retired actress who needed a loan of 800 leva to have her power supply connected back. Another applicant wanted to be lent 3,000 leva to organize a Roma wedding. A candidate mayor was asking for a loan of 50,000 leva to organize his election campaign.

Other loans were taken out to buy hunting equipment and a four-wheel drive, to cover the costs of birth giving or to pay other loans and credit card bills.

In return for their services, the CreditCentre employees have received hand made woolen socks, a crateful of tomatoes, a jump with parachute, an invitation to attend a Roma wedding, freshly caught fish, etc.