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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Apr 2001

Vol. 533 No. 6

Written Answers. - Credit Cards.

Enda Kenny

Question:

198 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Finance the extent of use and expenditure involved in the use of credit cards for each year since 1995 to date; his views on the levels of interest charged by credit card companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9767/01]

Enda Kenny

Question:

200 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Finance the extent of the moneys borrowed by credit card holders in each of the past three years; the estimated extent of credit card fraud for each of these years; the percentage of total credit card payments that this represents; the measures being taken to counteract this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9883/01]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 200 together.

The monitoring of the growth of private sector credit in Ireland and prudential supervision of credit institutions in general is a matter for the Central Bank.

As Minister, I have no role in relation to the level of interest charged by credit card companies. Interest rates in the euro area are set independently by the European Central Bank and the setting of retail rates for individual customers is a matter for each institution acting in response to market forces.

I have already stated that many people who use credit cards settle their accounts each month and no interest charges arise. For those that do not settle their accounts, the charges are high and they should consider more cost effective options.

Statistics on the number of credit cards in use and the expenditure involved are only available from the Central Bank from end February, 1998, and the following is the information required.

I cannot provide information to the Deputy on the level of credit card fraud as there is no published information series available. Measures to tackle fraud are a matter for the individual institutions, but consumers should be mindful of the constant need to be vigilant when carrying and using credit cards.

Irish Credit Card Statistics (a)

No. of cardsoutstanding(b)

Outstandingindebtednessarising fromthe use ofcredit cards

TypicalAPRcharged oncredit cards(c)

End of month

000

Eur millions

%

1998 February

1,358

492

22.7

1999 February

1,591

622

20.8

2000 February

1,626

786

18.5

December

1,873

1,000

18.2

Source:Central Bank of Ireland Quarterly Bulletin
a.Provisional data
b.Data include credit cards issued by credit institutions resident in Ireland. Debit cards or store cards are excluded
c.Typical APR charged on credit cards is calculated as a simple average of the standard APR charged by credit institutions which issue credit cards.
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