Issues regarding the use and issuance of credit cards represent the top complaints the Philippines’ central bank has received since it set up a mechanism for addressing complaints from the country’s bank customers in 2006, according to the bank.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas set up the Financial Affairs Consumer Group to better address the complaints it received against banks and financial institutions, a spokesperson for the central bank tells PaymentsSource.
“Since then, we have found that credit card complaints dominate the number of complaints received, followed by complaints related to ATM transactions in the country,” he says.
The most frequent complaints against banks’ credit card operations involve unfair collection practices, excessive charges, unauthorized or disputed charges, issuance of preapproved credit cards, and fraudulent use of lost or stolen cards, according to the Financial Affairs Consumer Group.
The group has received 1,575 complaints related to credit cards since 2006. As of the end 2010, financial institutions had issued 6.7 million credit cards in the country, according to the central bank.
Though the complaint total represents a very small percentage of the country’s credit card base, roughly 0.02%, it amply shows some consumers do not trust the practices of credit card issuers in the Philippines, the spokesperson says.
At the end of 2010, card receivables were up 4.2%, to 120.3 billion pesos (US$2.8 billion or 1.9 billion euros) from 115.5 billion pesos a year earlier.
Over the past few months, however, regulators have tried to slow the expansion of the credit card market in the Philippines.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier this year approved two sets new regulations. One bars credit card issuers from issuing preapproved credit cards (
However, the biggest move to try to regulate the card industry in the Philippines came from lawmakers attempting to cap card interest rates, something the industry is vehemently opposing (
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