Credit card debt exceeds one trillion

■ Tolga UĞUR

Income that does not increase in line with the rising cost of living causes citizens to charge more on their credit cards. Credit card debts reached 965 billion lira, reaching the limit of 1 trillion lira. Card debts have increased by 514 billion lira since the beginning of the year. Although the gradual increase in the official rate after the elections caused credit card interest rates to rise rapidly, according to data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), an additional 326 billion lira have been added since then to the citizens’ debt. the week of June 2. According to the data, as of September 29, the total of individual credit cards and consumer loans exceeded 2.4 trillion lira. The fact that borrowing costs are higher than credit card interest makes credit cards preferred for spending. According to BRSA data, while after the elections there was a limited increase of 82.3 billion lira in consumer loans, spending made with individual credit cards increased by 244 billion lira in the same period . According to the most recent data, citizens’ individual credit card debt reached 965 billion lira, reaching the limit of 1 trillion lira. While credit card debts have increased by 514 billion lira since the beginning of the year, compared to last year there has been an increase of 114 percent.

536 BILLION WITHOUT QUOTAS

Among credit card debts, the increase in installment loans for basic expenses is striking. With the effect of the economic management limitation on credit card installment payments in the summer months, unpaid credit card debts have exceeded installment expenses. As of the week of September 29, installment credit cards increased by 52.7 billion lira since the elections, reaching 429.3 billion lira. Undivided spending on individual credit cards increased by 191.2 billion lira to 536.1 billion lira in the same period.

Card interest rates have tripled

POLICY Borrowing costs continue to rise with rising interest rates. With the increase in the reference rate determined according to the Central Bank’s policy rate, the maximum contractual interest rate applied on credit card transactions increased to 3.26 percent as of October. This rate was 1.36 percent in June. The maximum late interest on card transactions reached 3.56 percent from 1.66 percent in the last 4 months. While the maximum contractual interest rate applicable to overdraft accounts exceeded 4 percent in October, the default interest rate increased to 4.32 percent. These rates were at 1.36 percent and 1.66 percent before the interest rate increase in June.