The Regulation of the Credit Card Market in Turkey

摘要

The rapid growth in Turkish credit card market brought together new issues. Card holders and consumer unions complain about the high interest rates, economists complain about the default rates and banks complain about the amnesties. After all of these complaints coinciding with the accelerating suicide incidences due to credit card debts, regulation has been enacted in the credit card market in Turkey. In 2003, credit cards had been taken into the scope of the Consumer Protection Law. This was the first legal arrangement on the credit cards. However it was not satisfying. It was criticized for bringing out temporary solutions. In 2005, a more comprehensive credit card law came into effect. With this regulation, Central Bank of Turkey has put a ceiling on the credit card interest rates and clarified some issues that were left untouched. In this paper; reasons, advantages, disadvantages of this regulation are discussed along with a quick glance on the development of credit card market in Turkey. The regulation and amnesties in 2003 and 2005 are examined and their effects are exposed from the point of view of parties involved: banks, customers and government.