Number of people default on loan, card payments falls in 2023

ISTANBUL

The number of people with unpaid consumer loans and credit card payments declined by 11.6 percent last year from 2022 to 1.32 million, according to data Encazip compiled.

In 2022, nearly 1.5 million people failed to make consumer loans and credit card payments, according to the numbers of the Turkish Banks Association’s (TBB) Risk Center.

Last year, personal loans extended by banks and non-bank financial institutions grew 76 percent to reach 2.7 trillion Turkish Liras. Some 99 percent of those loans were provided by banks.

Housing loans and car loans accounted for 16 percent and 4 percent of total personal loans, respectively, while credit cards’ share was 44 percent.

There were 120.4 million credit cards in Türkiye as of February, up 18 percent from the same month of last year, according to data from the Interbank Card Center (BKM).

Credit card spending increased by 166 percent annually to 843.1 billion liras last months. 

Spending with debit cards grew 94 percent year-on-year to 150.3 billion liras.

The Central Bank has been announcing measures to curb credit card spending and loan growth in its fight against rampant inflation.

Earlier this month, the bank raised the monthly maximum interest rate on credit card cash withdrawals from 4.42 percent to 5 percent.

Before the Central Bank’s move, some lenders introduced limitations on the number of installments on credit card cash advances.

Both public and private banks reduced the number of maximum installments from 12 to three months.