Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), head of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, said yesterday he would pursue a legal amendment to lower the caps on credit and cash card interest rates by 5 percent.
At a press conference at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus, Hsieh applauded Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Sean Chen (陳沖) for trying to persuade banks to lower credit and cash card interest rates.
However, Hsieh said that such tactics had proved ineffective, as many banks were only willing to make marginal cuts.
Hsieh was referring to Chen’s appeal to credit card issuers after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time since September, for a total of 2.125 percentage points.
The highest revolving interest rates from banks on credit and cash cards have remained unchanged at 19 percent and 20 percent respectively.
FSC officials said on Tuesday that 10 major credit card issuers were scheduled to finalize their rate cuts by tomorrow at the earliest.
Despite the FSC’s announcement, Hsieh said he believed the best way to give credit and cash card debtors a break was to amend Article 205 of the Civil Code, which sets the ceiling for rates at 20 percent.
Hsieh said many banks justified their high credit and cash card interest rates — which range between 15 percent and 20 percent — by citing the article, a practice Hsieh described as “legal, but unethical.”
Hsieh said the article had not been amended since it took effect in 1929.
The proposed amendment to lower the ceiling to 15 percent was in line with recent global interest rate cuts, he said.
“It’s time to make a thorough adjustment,” he said. “Banks can still make a lot of profit with the cap at 15 percent ... Lowering the ceiling would not affect the operations of banks.”
Hsieh said that he hoped the proposal would be included as a caucus priority for the spring legislative session.
If members of the legislature do not have a problem with the new ceiling, the bill could clear the legislative floor as early as the end of March, he said.
But he did not rule out the possibility of calling for a vote on the proposal.
KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池), another head of the committee, also voiced support for Hsieh’s proposal.
“The government should abandon its persuasion strategy and take the initiative to intervene [in unreasonably high credit and cash card interest rates],” he said.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS