NewsWhore
01-27-2011, 03:30 PM
If you have a local credit card, watch out. If you need to finance purchases, you could be paying up to 95% in interest rates, writes Alejandro Fernandez in today's Diario Libre. He says that local banks do not openly share the interest rate they are charging for financing with their clients, and this information is difficult to obtain, even from the Superintendence of Banks. Available information indicates that of the 1.2 million credit cards some RD$24 billion in debt is outstanding.
Fernandez writes that while interest rates on lending have fluctuated up and down over the years, not so those on credit card borrowing that have been constantly on the rise over the past 25 years. He comments that the reason is clearly a lack in transparency so that consumers can choose and become aware of what they are paying.
He makes the point that as of December 2008 lending rates were 24%, with credit card interest rate at 83%. But when the interest lending declined to 12%, the interest rate on credit cards increased to 88%, according to the Central Bank.
He speculates that there would be more competition that would benefit consumers with lower credit card interest rates if there were more transparency. He called on government institutions to encourage increased transparency.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
Fernandez writes that while interest rates on lending have fluctuated up and down over the years, not so those on credit card borrowing that have been constantly on the rise over the past 25 years. He comments that the reason is clearly a lack in transparency so that consumers can choose and become aware of what they are paying.
He makes the point that as of December 2008 lending rates were 24%, with credit card interest rate at 83%. But when the interest lending declined to 12%, the interest rate on credit cards increased to 88%, according to the Central Bank.
He speculates that there would be more competition that would benefit consumers with lower credit card interest rates if there were more transparency. He called on government institutions to encourage increased transparency.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)