Credit card debt soars to 550 billion baht
Non-performing loans (NPL) from credit cards in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to 64 billion baht, an increase of 14.6% year on year, following the raising of minimum monthly payments from 5% to 8% of the amount on January 1, the National Credit Bureau (NCB) reported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, debts in the Special Mention (SM) category among credit card users also rose to 12 billion baht, a 32% rise year on year, the bureau added.
NCB said the NPL (default of more than 90 days) covered around 1 million credit cards while the SM (default from 30 to 90 days) was from around 190,000 cards.
At the end of March 2024, there was 550 billion baht worth of debt from around 24 million credit cards, an increase of 3.2% year on year, but a contraction of 5.1% from the previous quarter, said NCB.
The Bank of Thailand imposed the 8% rate for one year and the minimum payment rate will be increased to 10% on January 1, 2025.
The instalment amount had been reduced to 5% during the Covid crisis to help lower people’s financial burden. The central bank is paving the way for 10% minimum repayment, which prevailed before the pandemic.
