Affecting millions of citizens: Central Bank's credit card interest rate decision

Announcing the final interest rate decision of the year, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Monetary Policy Committee raised the policy rate by 250 basis points to 42.5 percent.

The Central Bank announced that it had made a new decision regarding credit card interest rates following the interest rate decision.

Accordingly, the CBRT announced that an upper limit has been set for the reference rate to ensure that maximum credit card interest rates and maximum merchant commission rates do not exceed their current levels.

The following statement was made by the Central Bank regarding the new regulation:

"The current level of the reference rate has been set as an upper limit of 3.11, and no changes have been made to the current calculation method for rates below this level.

In this context, there will be no increase in the most recently announced rates for maximum credit card interest and maximum merchant commission rates.

The reference rate used in the calculation of the maximum interest rates to be applied to credit card transactions and the maximum commission rates to be applied to merchants is calculated and announced in accordance with the method determined within the scope of the Communiqué on Procedures and Principles Regarding Fees That Can Be Charged to Commercial Customers by Banks (No: 2020/4).

The reference rate is calculated by taking into account the lower of the weighted average flow interest rate applied by banks to Turkish lira deposits with a maturity of 32-45 days and ten percent above the policy interest rate."

News Source: 12punto