Credit Cards: Regulated Interest Rates for Purchases Over USD200

The Board of the BCRA established that the interest rate regulated by the law on credit cards issued by financial institutions will be applied when the monthly credit card bill shows purchases in foreign currency over USD200.

This measure applies to cardholders financing unpaid credit card balances.

Financial institutions must notify cardholders before implementing this measure.

The maximum interest rate set by the BCRA at 62% will be maintained for financing unpaid credit card balances up to ARS200,000 per month.

Law No. 25,065 on Credit Cards established:

SECTION 16: — compensatory or financial interest. The limit of compensatory or financial interest applied by the issuer to the cardholder may not exceed by more than twenty-five percent (25%) the rate applied by the issuer to personal loans in pesos for customers.

In the case of non-bank credit card issuers, the limit of compensatory or financial interest applied to the cardholder may not exceed by more than twenty-five percent (25%) the average rate applied by the financial system to personal loans as published from the first to the fifth (1 to 5) day of each month by the BCRA.

The issuing institution must publicly display in all offices the financing rate applied to the credit card system.

July 28, 2022