Brazil Credit Card Users Pay 85% of Bills On Time, Survey Shows

A quarterly survey by DataFolha for the Brazilian Association of Credit Card Companies (Abecs) found that 85% of credit‑card holders paid their latest invoice in full, avoiding the costly revolving‑credit line. The poll, covering March data, also showed that 76% of the population use some type of credit card, a share that has remained stable.

In the first quarter, credit‑card transactions in Brazil totalled R$ 810.2 billion, a 12.8% increase from the same period a year earlier. Abecs executives described the payment behavior as “healthy” despite high interest rates on revolving credit, noting that about 74.3% of the credit‑card portfolio balance in April carried no interest charges. Ricardo de Barros Vieira, Abecs executive vice‑president, highlighted that “most people, between 85% and 90%, use credit cards responsibly by settling the full amount and avoiding rotativo interest.”