First, three banks announced that the bank's credit card automatic installment business will be offline
November 14, Construction Bank, Postal Savings Bank , and Zhejiang Commercial Bank also issued an announcement, which will adjust the automatic installment function of some of its own banks' credit card offline. A single stone caused a thousand waves, and bank credit card installment business once again entered the public's vision.
I believe many people have received advertisements that guide credit card bills to automatically install, especially as long as they receive bank credit card bills, there will definitely be content in automatic installment. Now three banks have announced that their credit card automatic installment business will be offline. Previously, Industrial Bank has announced that it will suspend customer application for automatic installment business in various channels from August 31, 2021. If a customer wants to make credit card installments, he or she needs to actively apply for installments through the mobile banking app and WeChat banking.
Second, banks adjust the "installment fee" of credit card consumption to "installment interest" of bank credit cards
While some banks automatically drop credit cards in installments, more banks adjust the "installment fee" of credit cards to "installment interest" of credit cards.
On November 11, 2022, Agricultural Bank of China announced that it will rename the credit card "installment payment fee" to the credit card "installment payment interest" starting from January 1, 2023. Previously, China Merchants Bank , Postal Savings Bank , Bank of China , China Merchants Bank , CITIC Bank, Industrial Bank and some local banks have also issued similar notices and announcements. At the same time, some banks have also clarified the annualized interest rate for credit card installment fees.
Some people may say, what is the significance of such an adjustment? Isn’t it still the same for consumers to pay for installment repayments? In fact, this is not the case, and it is of great significance. In particular, the announcement of credit card interest fees interest rates is more important.
When many people receive bank credit card installment advertisements, they may also see some bank credit card installment promotions that are advertised with no interest, no interest charge or even 0 interest. Implicit interest such as handling fees are often ignored. In addition, the handling fees for each period are not much when credit card installment is completed. Some are a few yuan, and some are a few dozen yuan. They often don’t care about the real interest rate level , but it is precisely this neglect that causes very high interest rate costs.
In recent years, while bank credit cards have brought convenience to the public, they have become the focus of public complaints against banks. Data from the Shanghai Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau on consumer complaints in the Shanghai Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau in the first half of 2022 shows that the number of complaints involved in credit card business accounts for 91.25% of the total consumer complaints in the entire banking industry. The number of credit card fee and interest complaints accounts for the second place in credit card business complaints, with a proportion of 28.38%. Bank credit card charges, especially some credit card charges, have become the focus of public attention. The random charges of credit cards reported by , , have also become the hardest hit area for consumer complaints, including the "automatic installment" of credit cards.
The rate of bank credit card installment charges has always been opaque. The various so-called so-called gold products of credit cards have actually become a symbol of high fees. The installment rates of many credit cards are as high as 15-24%. It is very unfair to bear such a high fee rate without knowing it. This is the installment interest cost that banks actually make consumers bear without interest. For example, when China Merchants Bank recently said that the current installment repayment period is equivalent to an annualized interest rate of 7.2% after enjoying a limited-time 50% discount on the installment of this period. This also indirectly confirms that the annualized interest rate of credit card installments has reached 14.4%, which is not much different from the previously reported installment rates of more than 15%.
Make credit cards clearly consumed will increase the public's confidence in the future consumption of bank credit cards. Whether it is the automatic installment downstream or the explicit business interest rate level, it is a service to public consumers, but at the same time it will have a very big impact on the future of bank credit cards . (Qijian)
