BC announces highest credit card interest rate hike in 6 years

The Central Bank reported this Wednesday (29), through monetary and credit statistics, that the interest charged by banks on revolving credit cards rose to 455.1% in May, against 447.7% in April. The fee is charged when customers do not pay the full amount of their credit card bill by the due date.

The rate registered in May represents the highest in more than six years, since March 2017, when it reached 490% per annum. Last year, this rate was 368.8%, a difference of 86.3 percentage points.

In April of this year, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, started a series of meetings with bankers to seek an alternative for reducing interest on the revolving credit. According to Haddad, the discussion is not simple because the credit card industry has many actors involved: “there are many interlocutors: flag, vending machines, banks and retailers”.

The average interest rate charged on credit operations for individuals reached 59.9% per annum in May, up 0.3 points compared to April and 9.5 points compared to May 2022. Emphasis on credit personal, with an average rate of 24.8%, and overdraft, with 130.7% per annum. In payroll, the average rate was 25.8% in May and 28.1% for the purchase of vehicles.