Notice of the People’s Bank of China on matters related to credit card business

China People’s Bank Shanghai Headquarters, branches, business management departments, city center branches of provincial capitals, and Shenzhen center branch; There are commercial banks, joint-stock commercial banks and China Postal Savings Bank in various countries. China UnionPay Co., Ltd.; China Payment and Clearing Association:

In order to improve the marketization mechanism of credit card business, improve the service level of credit card, protect the legitimate rights and interests of cardholders and promote the healthy development of credit card market, relevant matters are hereby notified as follows:

I. Interest rate standard

The credit card overdraft interest rate is subject to upper and lower limit management. The upper limit of overdraft interest rate is five ten thousandths of the daily interest rate, and the lower limit is 0.7 times of the daily interest rate. The method of calculating and settling interest on credit card overdraft, whether to calculate and pay interest on credit card overpayment and its interest rate standard shall be determined by the card issuer independently.

II. Interest-free repayment period and minimum repayment amount

The conditions and standards for cardholders to enjoy interest-free repayment period and minimum repayment amount for overdraft consumption shall be determined by the card issuer independently.

Third, liquidated damages and service charges

Cancel the late payment fee for credit cards. For the cardholder’s default and overdue repayment, the card issuer should agree with the cardholder through agreement whether to collect liquidated damages, as well as the relevant collection methods and standards. Card issuers that provide cardholders with card services that exceed the credit line shall not charge an over-limit fee. The card issuer shall not charge interest on the service fees such as liquidated damages, annual fees, cash withdrawal fees and currency exchange fees charged to the cardholder.

Iv. Cash advance by credit card

Credit card cash advance business includes cash withdrawal, cash transfer and cash recharge. Among them, cash withdrawal means that the cardholder obtains the funds within the credit card advance cash limit in the form of cash through self-service machines such as counters and ATMs; Cash transfer means that the cardholder transfers the funds within the cash limit advanced by the credit card to his bank settlement account; Cash recharge means that the cardholder transfers the funds within the cash limit of the credit card to the payment account opened by himself in a non-bank payment institution.

The cardholder shall handle the cash withdrawal business through ATM and other self-service machines, and the daily accumulative amount of each card shall not exceed RMB 10,000; The daily limit of each card for the cardholder to handle cash withdrawal business through the counter and cash transfer business through various channels shall be agreed by the card issuer and the cardholder through agreement; The card issuer can decide whether to provide cash recharge service and agree with the cardholder on the daily limit of each card. The card issuer shall not transfer the funds within the cash advance limit of the cardholder’s credit card to other credit cards or the bank settlement account or payment account of non-cardholders.

V. Transaction information

Bank card clearing institutions shall, jointly with card issuers and acquirers, further improve the business rules and technical standards of credit card transactions in strict accordance with the relevant regulatory provisions on bank card business. All card issuers and acquirers should truly reflect and accurately identify the business types such as cash withdrawal, cash transfer and cash recharge, and transmit the transaction information completely to ensure the authenticity, integrity, traceability and consistency of the transaction information in the payment process, so as to facilitate the card issuers to identify and judge risks and ensure the security of credit card transactions.

VI. Obligation of information disclosure

(1) Card issuers shall fully disclose the credit card application conditions, product functions, charging items and standards, knowledge of safe card use, credit card standard agreements and articles of association through their websites and other channels, and update them in time.

(2) The card issuer shall indicate in a prominent way in the credit card agreement the credit card interest rate standard, the method of interest calculation and settlement, the conditions and standards of interest-free repayment period and minimum repayment amount, as well as the details and collection standards of the liquidated damages charged to the cardholder, so as to ensure that the cardholder fully knows and confirms the acceptance. Among them, for the credit card interest rate standard, the daily interest rate and annual interest rate should be indicated.

(3) If the card issuer adjusts the credit card interest rate standard, it shall notify the cardholder in the agreed way at least 45 natural days in advance. The cardholder has the right to cancel the account before the new interest rate standard comes into effect, and repay the relevant funds according to the signed agreement.

VII. Handling of Non-authorized Transactions

When the cardholder proposes transactions that are not authorized by himself, such as fake card transactions and account theft, the card issuer shall promptly guide the cardholder to retain evidence, handle error disputes in accordance with relevant rules, and regularly feed back the processing progress to the cardholder. Encourage card issuers to make reasonable compensation for cardholders’ losses in accordance with the law through commercial insurance cooperation and provision of risk compensation funds, and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of cardholders.

Eight, interest rate information submitted.

Card issuers should report to the People’s Bank 60 days in advance if they adjust the credit card overdraft interest rate, interest-free repayment period and minimum repayment amount. Credit card interest rates are included in the interest rate monitoring and filing system of the People’s Bank of China and reported monthly (see the attachment for details). The data of last month should be submitted before the 9th of each month, and the initial reporting time is before February 9th, 2017, and the relevant credit card interest rate information in January 2017 should be reported. Among them, the national bank submitted to the head office of the People’s Bank of China; Other banking financial institutions shall submit them to the branches of the People’s Bank of China where the legal person is located according to the principle of territorial management.

Nine, self-discipline management of credit card business

Give full play to the role of market interest rate pricing self-discipline mechanism, implement self-discipline management on credit card interest rate determination and interest-bearing rules, and maintain fair market competition order.

China Payment and Clearing Association shall, in accordance with the requirements of the relevant regulatory system for credit card business and the provisions of this circular, establish and improve self-regulatory mechanisms such as credit card issuance process, use management and customer service, and formulate a recommended model of credit card agreement and articles of association to protect the legitimate rights and interests of cardholders and promote the orderly development of the credit card market.

This notice shall be implemented as of January 1, 2017. If the relevant provisions on bank card business previously issued by the People’s Bank of China are inconsistent with this notice, this notice shall prevail.

Branches of the People’s Bank of China are requested to forward this notice to city commercial banks, rural commercial banks, rural cooperative banks, rural credit cooperatives, village banks, foreign banks and non-bank payment institutions within their jurisdiction.

Attachment: 1. Credit card overdraft interest rate classification statistics. doc

　　　 　　2. Credit card overdraft interest rate interval distribution table. doc

People’s Bank of China

April 15, 2016