Increase in the number of people facing legal action due to credit card debt

As the purchasing power of the Turkish Lira declines due to high inflation and the rising cost of living, citizens struggling to make ends meet have turned to credit cards as a solution. 

The Banks Association of Turkey Risk Center recently announced an increase in the number of individuals facing legal action due to personal credit card and loan debts.

According to the April 2024 data from the Banks Association of Turkey Risk Center, the number of people facing legal action due to credit card debt in the first four months of this year increased by 70 percent compared to the same period last year, while the number of those facing legal action due to personal loan debt rose by 32.5 percent. The number of people facing legal action due to both personal credit card and personal loan debt also increased by 42.5 percent, rising from 422 thousand 650 to 602 thousand 107.

CREDIT DEBTS APPROACH 2 TRILLION TL

According to the report by Birgün, data from the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) has also revealed both the debt situation and the scale of non-performing loans.

According to BDDK data, the total credit debt amount has increased by nearly 2 trillion TL since the beginning of the year.

The amount of credit card debt has nearly doubled. The total credit debt was 11.6 trillion liras in the first week of the year. This amount rose to 13.5 trillion liras in the week of June 1-7. Thus, the debt amount increased by approximately 2 trillion TL in just 6 months.

The amount of credit and credit card debt, which was 2.6 trillion in the first week of the year, reached 3.1 trillion TL in the week of June 1-7.

Of this, 1.6 trillion liras consisted of consumer loans and 1.4 trillion liras consisted of personal credit card debt.

In consumer loan debt, the peak was in personal finance loans. The amount of personal finance loans reached 1.1 trillion liras. The increase in non-performing loans is also noteworthy.

While the total amount of non-performing loans was 191.8 billion TL, it reached 213.7 billion TL. The most striking increase here was in credit cards.

The amount of non-performing credit card debt, which was 16.04 billion TL in the first week of the year, rose to 28.5 billion TL.

News Source: 12punto