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Annual interest rate on Brazilian credit cards soars to 471 pct

Xinhua, June 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Brazilians will have to think twice about using their credit cards following an announcement Monday that the annual interest rate on credit card debt has soared to 471 percent.

The Central Bank of Brazil said the annual rate rose 18.9 percentage points from April to May, pushing June's rate to a record high of 471.3 percent.

Over the first five months of the year, the rate grew a total of 39.9 percentage points, while over the past 12 months, it grew 111 points.

The rate applies to overdue debt on credit card purchases as well as cash withdrawals from credit card accounts.

In May, the overdraft interest rate also hit a record high of 311.3 percent per year. That's the highest rate since records have been kept, starting in July 1994.

In the 12 months leading up to May, the overdraft rate rose by a total of 79.3 percentage points.

The average annual interest rate on miscellaneous personal loans rose to 129.9 percent, increasing 12.2 points so far this year.

The average annual interest rate on a car loan, meanwhile, reached 26.3 percent in May, after gradually rising 1.5 percent over the past 12 months. Endit