Mostly people credit card users are
avoiding visiting branches
Because some are trying to use online banking for the payments
against the credit they used before there deadline.
credit card users of Standard Chartered was unable to pay his
bill through Askari Online banking due to time period. When contacted, Standard
Chartered bank stated that there was no such problem in their system. If the
issue is not fixed, the customer of this bank is likely to pay extra charges on
the account of markup and financial charges.
All Banks in Pakistan usually give a maximum of twenty days
to avoid markup to their customers with some banks giving fifteen days
A section of customers who did not receive their salaries or got
laid-off by their employers is also facing hardship these days. They will have
to pay the extra markup due to the prevailing situation of lockdown to prevent
Coronavirus from spreading.
There are 1600000 credit cards issued by various banks in
Pakistan.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan, banks issued loans of
nearly Rs. 50 billion to customers against credit cards by the end of 2019.
Banks’ Non-Performing loans against credit cards surged to over Rs. 2600000.
The markup charges on credit cards vary demanding on the amount
and period. Usually, the markup charges on credit cards stand up to 25%
State Bank of Pakistan earlier instructed banks not only to
facilitate customers through uninterrupted banking services but also to
encourage them to use different modes of digital banking. Banks should fix the
issues of the online payment and also develop alternate measures for the
customers such as payment of credit cards through mobile apps.
Also, the central bank should instruct banks to ease off the
deadline of the payment against the credit cards in the prevailing lock down to
relax the burden of high interest rates.
