Credit card benefits suffer from costs

To reduce surging credit card issuance costs and the high number of "idle" cards, banks are planning to shrink benefits that come with cards and adopt higher thresholds on free-of-charge products.

Consumers are advised to examine the cards they have and mail back those they do not use to avoid incurring annual fees, bank executives said.

Union Bank (聯邦銀行), the nation's fourth-largest credit card issuer, may reintroduce the "user pay" concept and encourage users to swipe cards more often with gift giveaways after a certain transaction threshold is reached.

In the past, Union Bank cardholders were exempt from paying annual fees as long as one transaction was made each year, even if the user had more than one card with the bank, Meiji Chen (陳明智), assistant vice president of the bank's credit card center, said yesterday.

From March this year, the rules will be tightened and cardholders' transactions per card per year will be recorded in order to qualify for the zero-annual-fee program, he said.

"To educate the public on cautious use of credit cards, we'll make a clearer distinction between products that require annual fees and those that can be used free of charge," Chen said.

According to Banking Bureau statistics, the nation had more than 45.49 million credit cards in circulation at the end of last year. Only 24.57 million cards were in use, however, meaning that nearly 21 million cards were idle.

Costs are snowballing because issuers often write off annual fees to retain customers even if no contributions are made. Most credit card clauses stipulate that classic cards be charged an annual fee of NT$1,200, gold cards NT$2,400 and platinum cards NT$3,600, though there are variations among the banks.

Shinkong Bank (新光銀行) has mailed payment notices recently to platinum cardholders, who must pay NT$5,000 if annual consumption falls short of NT$60,000, or if the annual number of card swipes is lower than 12.

The International Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 中國國際商銀) has also announced an annual fee of NT$300 for its credit card users starting this month, according to a China Times report.

In addition, popular card benefits such as free parking or use of VIP lounges at airports will only be provided if cardholders demonstrate "loyalty."

Taishin International Bank (台新銀行) said that starting on March 1, platinum cardholders will be entitled to free parking for two hours at its Do Do Home (嘟嘟房) lots only if new purchases are made in the previous month.

Due to high costs, most banks, including Union Bank, have canceled the "priority pass" program for platinum card customers, who can no longer enjoy more than 400 VIP lounges in international airports around the world.

Union Bank now only offers this service at China Airlines' (華航) VIP rooms for cardholders who have made more than NT$50,000 in purchases in the previous 12 months.

With more changes to benefits expected to be announced, users are being advised to keep a close watch and leave only the most useful credit cards in their wallets.