Costa Rica May Follow
US On Credit Card Interest Limits
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Costa Rica May Follow
US On Credit Card Interest Limits
Following the lead of US president, Barack
Obama, that signed into law limits on credit
card fees and curbs contract changes, the
Oficina de Apoyo al Consumidor in Costa Rica
announced yesterday that a similar law could
be a reality in Costa Rica.
Cynthia Zapata, director of the Oficina de
Apoyo al Consumidor, said that they will
also try to place limits on credit card
rates and other markets, that are not in
place now.
"We have a dispersion in the fees," said
Zapata.
For his part, José Ignacio Cordero, general
manager of Credomatic, said that many of the
regulations approved in the US are already
applied in Costa Rica.
Zapata said that because there is no limit
on the interest charges usury laws do not
apply in Costa Rica and consumers suffer,
Interest rates on credit cards in Costa Rica
can be over 50% per year. The state bank,
Banco de Costa Rica (BCR), for instance,
publishes it has one of the lowest credit
card interest rates, 27% for domestic, 25%
for international, gold, platinum and
business.
Credomatic, which issues Visa, Mastercard
and American Express credit cards, charges
between 2.5% to 4.13% monthly on its
products.
The BCR and Credomatic publish their rates
on their internet websites, while most of
the other banks, state and public, do not,
like the Banco Popular, which claims it has
one of the lowest credit card interest rates
in the market, but does not publish such.
The objective of the Oficina de Apoyo al
Consumidor to set norms and standards for
credit cards, for consumers to be well
informed and for credit card issuers not to
gouge the consumer.
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