As of this Friday, all banks will adjust the costs of their credits. What should be used to postpone expirations
By Claudio Zlotnik
21/04/2023 – 09,07hs
The increase arranged on Thursday by the Central Bank to fixed terms and Leliqs includes financing of Credit cards. As of today, kicking forward the expiration of consumption is more expensive.
The BCRA, which also regulates card feesprovided that if only the minimum due payment is paid, the nominal rate goes to 80% per year, three points above what was paid up to now.
He total financial costwith the new rate, it went to 146%-147% per year, depending on the terms chosen to refinance the balance.
That is, the cost exceeds the level of the YoY inflation -some points above 100%-, but below the cost of personal loans charged by banks. This means that a person who must refinance their expenses should do so with his card (paying the minimum, for example) rather than taking out a personal loan at a bank.
cards vs. personal credits
The problem is that the banks have been cutting the lcard limits, with which many clients have no other alternative than to resort to a personal loan to kick their debt forward.
Banks stop financing through Credit cards and they offer their clients other loans -further away from the regulation of the Central Bank-, which are more onerous for those who cannot make ends meet or need money circumstantially.
The total financial cost, with the new rate, went to 146%-147% per year, depending on the terms chosen to refinance the balance
According to the surveys of the Central Bank, the total financial cost of a personal loan starts at 210% per year for clients with salary accreditation but rises to an average of 334% per year for clients who do not deposit them in their accounts monthly. This cost, surely, will also be adjusted upwards in the next few hours.
There is a different scenario than other times, when it was more expensive to finance with cards than with bank loans. What happens is that financial institutions prefer to target the latter since the Central Bank does not regulate them. For this reason, it is common to hear that cards do not update spending limits for their customers. Banks offer their clients with problems to refinance through personal credits.
Yesterday afternoon, the board of the Banco Central it once again raised the interest rates of fixed terms by three percentage points. As of today, the return on placements of up to $10 million for individuals amounts to 81% annual nominal (119.4% effective annual), with which the rate remains positive in real terms, as it appears in the agreement with the IMF.
