Singapore, 15 April 2004...The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced two amendments to the Banking (Credit Card and Charge Card) Regulations issued on 19 January 2004.
This is in response to further feedback from card issuers following the issuance of the Regulations in January.
The first amendment allows card issuers to issue credit cards to individuals who do not meet the minimum income requirement as long as they have deposits of more than S$10,000 and the credit granted is fully secured against the deposits. Individuals, e.g. retirees, who do not qualify for an unsecured credit card but have substantial savings, can now obtain a secured credit or charge card. However, unsecured credit cards issued to individuals will continue to be subject to the minimum annual income requirement and the maximum credit limit of two months' income.
This change does not compromise the fundamental objective of discouraging Singaporeans from spending beyond their means, as the credit granted must be secured against the cardholder's deposits. The minimum deposit requirement of $10,000 will ensure that only those who have substantial savings can obtain a secured credit card.
The second amendment removes the requirement for an issuer to perform income verification checks before issuing additional card(s) to an existing cardholder. In such cases, no additional credit is made available since the Regulations already require an issuer to aggregate the credit limits under all cards issued to a cardholder, and ensure that the total does not exceed two months income.
There is no relaxation in the availability of credit to individuals. The Government's long-standing policy to discourage Singaporeans from spending beyond their means by curbing the easy availability of consumer credit remains unchanged.
The Banking (Credit Card and Charge Card) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 ()come into force immediately.
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Notes to Editors:
1. An individual who meets the minimum requirements for both unsecured and secured credit card facilities will have the option of obtaining either an unsecured credit card facility of up to two months' income, or a secured credit card facility of up to the amount of deposits pledged to the issuer.
2. Issuers are allowed to issue supplementary secured cards as long as the aggregate credit limit granted on the principal card and all its supplementary cards are secured on the principal cardholder's deposits.
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