Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) is a survey run by the CZSO in cooperation with the Czech National Bank (CNB) in all regions of the Czech Republic since 2020.

Similar to Household Budget Survey (HBS), the target households are only those which have been successfully interviewed in the randomly selected European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

The interviewer asks several questions concerning mortgages, home loans and other loans and credits which are being repaid by the household (consumer loans, car leasing, credit card debts etc.). Furthermore, the survey is focused on the household’s property, the value of which is estimated (real estate property, cars and other vehicles, valuables, value of private company or a share in it). The questionnaire also aims at using and the value of various financial products (bank accounts, building saving accounts, supplementary pension plans, holding funds, securities etc.).

The CNB presents the participants with the otherwise unavailable gift set of all Czech coins currently in use.

HFCS is a unique source of information which cannot be garnered any other way than by direct interviewing of households. Its goal is to map the current situation of Czech households in terms of finance and property. From HFCS data the net property indicator is constructed by employing both household’s income and property estimate. From this data the risk of overall poverty of households is calculated. Furthermore, the survey is a basis for finding out about the household‘s behavior as to the use of financial market instruments, level of its financial indebtedness, and the risk it incurs upon itself because of loans and credits taken. The results are used on the national level by both the CNB and the CZSO; internationally, the survey serves the needs of the European Central Bank.

Internationally, the survey is coordinated by the European Central Bank. Participation of the countries of eurozone is obligatory, other countries run the survey voluntarily.