Running into trouble paying off credit debt
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Referans
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 17, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The number of credit and debit cards has reached 105 million in Turkey, however, an alarming amount of people are struggling to make credit repayments.
Turkey’s credit card market grew 19 percent to 44.5 million units, while the number of debit cards rose by 9 percent to 60.5 million in 2008. The number of customers that have problems paying their credit card debts rose by nearly 100 percent to 880,000. As the global crisis continues to impact Turkey, this figure is likely to rise this year, said Sertaç Özinal, managing director of the Interbank Card Center, or BKM. Speaking at a meeting held for the evaluation of 2008 in terms of card repayment systems, Özinal said, "In 2008, the number of problematic credit cards rose around 430,000, which corresponds to 4.3 percent share among total credit card customers."
Problematic credit cards have an 8 percent share in European countries and a 9.5 percent share in the United States he said, adding: "We do not consider the 4.3 percent rate as a danger signal, as the market is also growing."
In terms of the proportion of problematic credits to total credits, the indicators of January 2008 are better than those of January 2007, said BKM Chairman Hakan Kaplan. With the rise of unemployment, this rate may increase this year, he said, warning consumers to use credit cards consciously and keep expenditures in line with their budgets.
The transaction volume of credit cards rose by 31 percent to 185 billion Turkish lira, according to the BKM data. This year, the turnover of credit cad transactions is expected to rise by 21 percent to 221 billion lira. It was July that saw the top card expenditures, Özinal said, adding that no decline occurred in credit cards in and after August, during which the crisis started to bite in Turkey.
"The card transactions rose by 18 percent to 1.7 billion in units. The turnover of debit cards climbed 48 percent to 3.45 billion lira. Over the period, the transaction of debit cards rose 44.5 percent to 106.98 million in units."
Özinal also noted that credit card forgery declined with the Chip & PIN implementation, which has been effective since 2007. Forgery costs had dropped by 80 percent as of the end of 2008, he said.
Problematic credit cards have an 8 percent share in European countries and a 9.5 percent share in the United States he said, adding: "We do not consider the 4.3 percent rate as a danger signal, as the market is also growing."
In terms of the proportion of problematic credits to total credits, the indicators of January 2008 are better than those of January 2007, said BKM Chairman Hakan Kaplan. With the rise of unemployment, this rate may increase this year, he said, warning consumers to use credit cards consciously and keep expenditures in line with their budgets.
The transaction volume of credit cards rose by 31 percent to 185 billion Turkish lira, according to the BKM data. This year, the turnover of credit cad transactions is expected to rise by 21 percent to 221 billion lira. It was July that saw the top card expenditures, Özinal said, adding that no decline occurred in credit cards in and after August, during which the crisis started to bite in Turkey.
"The card transactions rose by 18 percent to 1.7 billion in units. The turnover of debit cards climbed 48 percent to 3.45 billion lira. Over the period, the transaction of debit cards rose 44.5 percent to 106.98 million in units."
Özinal also noted that credit card forgery declined with the Chip & PIN implementation, which has been effective since 2007. Forgery costs had dropped by 80 percent as of the end of 2008, he said.