The Consumers' Foundation (消基會) yesterday accused banks of overcharging consumers, with revolving credit rates starting as high as 20 percent.
Government officials should act together to amend the law to narrow the gap between lending rates and rates paid on savings accounts, Terry Huang (黃怡騰), a member of the foundation's legal commission, said at a press conference.
The savings rate now stands at around 1 percent at major banks, while the revolving credit rate applicable to both credit cards and cash-advance cards hovers at around 20 percent.
According to Article 203 of the Civil Code, banks are entitled to charge up to 20 percent on lending.
"That's unreasonable. What the banks are doing is no different from what loan sharks do, and consumers are exploited," Huang said.
On the other hand, increased use of credit cards and cash-advance cards may increase the risk of bad loans for the banking sector over the next two years or so, Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a local arm of Standard & Poor's, warned late last year.
"Because the credit-card and cash-card business mainly targets young people, who are vulnerable to getting into trouble with their spending, we believe it's time for us to alert consumers," Huang said.
The foundation yesterday also charged that banks ask consumers to pay commissions and transaction fees about which they have no knowledge when they apply for their cards -- be they credit cards or cash cards.
Banks should be more transparent in their policies, Huang said.
"Whether banks should charge additional commissions and transaction fees is a political and legal matter," said Jason Lee (
The foundation said consumers have the right to know all details about their accounts.
The foundation also called for the current lending rate cap to be replaced with an adjustable rate. But the Bankers' Association ROC (
"If interest rates are variable, it will be a burden for the legislature," said the secretary-general of the association, Kuo Yu-chyi (郭玉麒).
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS