El Dia reports today on the high costs of credit card financing in the DR. For instance, some cards charge up to 96% in annual interest. El Dia reports that this can be four times the average interest on a personal loan (22.5%), seven times interest on a mortgage (12.95%) and five times as much as the interest for financing vehicles (20.5%).<\/p>\n
Julio Cesar Munoz, director of the User Protection Department at the Superintendence of Banks (Prousuarios) said that if a credit card charges 7% monthly interest, that means purchases pay RD$23 per RD$10,000. This means, that a RD$10,000 purchase will have accumulated RD$644 in interest 28 days later. The amount is exonerated if the person pays on time (normally 20-22 days after the cut-off). But if paying after that date, then the RD$644 plus the debt will be charged.<\/p>\n
The Superintendence of Banks has said that users would only pay interest rates on the pending balance of a debt, but in practice, banks continue to charge the full amount of the interest accrued, whether or not partial payments were made on the debt.<\/p>\n
El Dia reports that banks in the DR charge 5-8.7% interest. Some charge up to RD$2,600 to renew the card, RD$1,350 for additional cardholders, RD$600 insurance, RD$100 for damaged card and RD$200 for robbery or loss. Others charge up to RD$2,600 to issue a card, and 5% for cash advances in an ATM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
El Dia reports today on the high costs of credit card financing in the DR. For instance, some cards charge up to 96% in annual interest. El Dia reports that this can be four times the average interest on a personal loan (22.5%), seven times interest on a mortgage (12.95%) and five times as much … <\/p>\n