Credit cards issued in the Dominican Republic as of the end of 2017 showed outstanding balances for RD$50 billion. Dominican banks have issued 2.4 million credit cards that are held by more than a million persons. Credit card growth was 8% in 2017, as reported by financial analyst Alejandro Fernandez in his Argentarium column in Diario Libre published on Thursday, 8 February 2018.
Fernandez highlights US dollar balances have shown significant growth. He said in 2008 debt taken on by local credit card holders in US dollars was around 14% of all consumption. By year’s end 2017, this had increased to 20%, reflecting increase in Internet purchases abroad by locals.
Fernandez says the average interest rate for consumers not paying within the allotted period is 60% annually, considerably less than the 91% average in 2010. Fernández himself lead a successful campaign to crack down on the high interest rates the banks were charging their customers.
He observes there are around 200 companies offering the credit cards. He says the market leader is the Banco Popular, first to offer locally-issued credit cards, with RD$15.4 billion, followed by Banreservas and BHD Leon.
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Diario Libre
12 February 2018
