Credit Card Companies Eye Interest Rate Cuts

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Credit Card Companies Eye Interest Rate Cuts

The largest credit card companies are expected to lower interest rates.

BC Card Co. said Tuesday its 12 shareholder banks have decided to lower interests charged on installment payments and overdue balances.

"There are still differences among the banks on how much decrease is appropriate," an official at the company said, "but we plan to lower the rates applied for all categories."

The official said some member banks have lowered the rates by as much as 20 percent for customers with higher credit ratings. "We plan to expand the rate cut by strengthening credit evaluation," he said.

Hanvit Bank, which owns the largest share of BC Card, said the scale of the rate cut will be determined within three weeks.

LG Card and Samsung Card said they are reviewing a plan to differentiate the interest rates they charge according to the cardholders' credit ratings. Meanwhile, the credit card companies said they are preparing an appeal to the Fair Trade Commission ruling in late March for using their dominant market positions to rig interest rates. Earlier in the month, the companies were also found to be charging excessive rates and were fined up to 3.5 billion won ($2.6 million).




by Choi Hyeon-chul

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