Cash ban applies to credit card users unable to pay 50 pct of debts for 3 months.
Hundreds of thousands of consumers in Turkey have been forbidden from withdrawing cash unless they pay off some of their debt, according to new rules from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK). (source)
The agency last month decided that credit card users would be unable to withdraw cash if they failed to pay less than 50 percent of their credit card debt for three consecutive months. The new regulation went into effect on Sept. 17. Cardholders who were able to make only their minimum payments in June, July and August will not be allowed to withdraw cash, according to a report on finansgundem.com website yesterday. The total number of those subjected to the cash withdrawal ban has not been reported yet but is expected to be in the hundreds of thousands.
The cash withdrawal ban was communicated to consumers via e-mail and messages to their mobile phone numbers. The ban is lifted once the required amount of credit card debt is paid back.
BDDK also increased the lower limit of payments to 22 percent, up from 20, for credit cards with a limit of 5,000 Turkish Liras or more. The lower limit for payments due will be 40 percent for new credit card holders. The limit for previous holders will also gradually increase to 40 percent.
According to authorities, 2.5 million people pay only the minimum limit of their debt, whereas about 4 million have paid back less than 50 percent of their credit card debts for the last three months. The ban has not yet been applied to the 2.5 million able to pay only the minimum.
The Consumer’s Rights Association warned on Sept.16 that the new regulation would affect about 10 million credit card users. The association also announced they would file a suit against BDDK for not having notified consumers well in advance regarding the new regulation.
