Solon wants BSP to keep 2% monthly cap on credit card interest rate; here's why
Amid rising inflation rates, Makati City 2nd district Rep. Luis Campos Jr. is prodding the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to retain the current limit on credit card interest rates.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/05/inflation-quickens-to-6-9-in-sept/
“We want the BSP to keep credit card pricing reasonable and within reach of consumers that are now reeling from the soaring cost of goods and services,” Campos said in a statement on Thursday, Oct. 6.
For this purpose, he filed House Resolution (HR) 459, which urges the BSP to keep the interest rates on unpaid credit card balances at just 2 percent.
“Salaried Filipinos are struggling to make ends meet. They are increasingly relying on their credit cards to make essential purchases and to pay bills, including the tuition fees of their children,” Campos pointed out.
HR 459 also asks the BSP to retain the maximum 1 percent monthly add-on rate for credit card installment loans, and the P200 transaction ceiling for cash advance processing fees.
The BSP is set to review the three aforementioned credit thresholds this coming November.
“The lifting of the ceilings would only aggravate the financial burden of consumers,” the solon said.
“Keeping the caps on credit card charges unchanged would discourage banks, as enlightened creditors, from unduly profiting from their credit card business and unjustly enriching their shareholders at the expense of consumers,” he concluded.