As @farrisbris mentioned, this is mortgage based debt (in the Netherlands). All debt is tracked, including the 'free' phone you get with your subscription. You

As @farrisbris mentioned, this is mortgage based debt (in the Netherlands). All debt is tracked, including the 'free' phone you get with your subscription. You can't go over a limit based on your income. Also a large difference with for example the US is that in the Netherlands you don't need a down payment when buying a home. And until recently you could include the transfer tax, realtor, etc in the mortgage. All which make it easier to buy a home and thereby driving up the debt of a household.