Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The premier said he hoped that the law will be enacted as soon as possible to help solve the problems triggered by the lax issuing of credit cards and the use of violence and intimidation by banks to collect money from card abusers who are unable to pay their debts.
Su made the promise during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan while fielding questions from Legislator Shyu Jong-shyong (徐中雄) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Su said he felt strongly about the serious social problem and had instructed Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
Cracking down on banks who hire gangsters to collect their debt was a priority, Su said.
He added that the Ministry of the Interior had also set up 20 hotlines to handle complaints from the public on card debt problems.
Shyu said that since Su assumed the premiership on Jan. 25, a total of 42 card abusers had committed suicide because of what they perceived to be astronomical debts.
He said the card abuse problem in Taiwan is more serious than in the US and Japan because there is no mechanism such as bankruptcy protection to provide an escape.
At present, 80 percent of domestic banks still charge a 19.8 percent revolving credit interest rate on credit card debt, which Shyu said is far too high.
He said that if banks cannot properly regulate their credit card business and end up with huge bad debts as a result of their rash card issuance policies, they should be left to founder.
He said that the number of credit and cash cards issued now stands at 45.55 million, sharply up from when the Democratic Progressive Party took power.
RSS