Turkish banks increase credit card fees by up to 70%

Banks in Turkey have increased annual credit card fees by up to 70%, with some annual charges rising to between 2,000 and 5,000 lira. This increase affects a population with over 150 million credit cards.

Mühip Kanko, a Yeni Party Kocaeli Member of Parliament, has raised concerns regarding these hikes and the conditions imposed for fee refunds. He noted that some financial institutions require customers to commit to spending 108,000 lira to qualify for a fee waiver. Kanko also highlighted that fees are being applied even to inactive or unused cards.

These developments occur amid rising household debt, with total individual credit card debt exceeding 3.3 trillion lira. Of this amount, over 2 trillion lira consists of non-installment spending. Additionally, total debt under legal follow-up in the banking sector has approached 839 billion lira, while non-performing loans related to individual credit and cards have seen an 80% annual increase.