The nation’s credit card issuers are planning to reduce their interest rates for revolving loans by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5 percent after the Lunar New Year holiday, local newspapers reported yesterday.
Officials at the Financial Supervisory Commission’s banking bureau said yesterday that 10 major credit card issuers are scheduled to finalize their rate cuts on Friday at the earliest.
The credit card issuing banks which have mapped out plans to cut their rates are Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託), Taishin International Bank (台新銀行), Union Bank of Taiwan (聯邦銀行), Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行), E.SUN Commercial Bank (玉山銀行), Ta Chong Bank (大眾銀行) and Shin Kong Bank (新光銀行), the Chinese-language Economic Daily News said.
The appeal to card issuers came after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time since September last year, by a total of 2.125 percentage points, but the banks’ highest revolving interest rates on credit and cash cards have remained unchanged at 19 percent and 20 percent respectively.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily, citing Banking Bureau Deputy Director General Hsiao Chang-jui (蕭長瑞), said the rate cuts at some banks are lower because those banks thought they bear more risks on credit card loans than other types of consumer loans, which requires them to charge a much higher revolving rate.
NOT JUSTIFIED: The bank’s governor said there would only be a rate cut if inflation falls below 1.5% and economic conditions deteriorate, which have not been detected The central bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged for a fifth consecutive quarter, aligning with market expectations, while slightly lowering its inflation outlook amid signs of cooling price pressures. The move came after the US Federal Reserve held rates steady overnight, despite pressure from US President Donald Trump to cut borrowing costs. Central bank board members unanimously voted to maintain the discount rate at 2 percent, the secured loan rate at 2.375 percent and the overnight lending rate at 4.25 percent. “We consider the policy decision appropriate, although it suggests tightening leaning after factoring in slackening inflation and stable GDP growth,”
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