The watchdog expects to announce a second implementation similar to the previous one, this time to last through March 2011. The BDDK regulation is anticipated to give credit card holders the opportunity to restructure outstanding balances in default a total of five times over a designated period of time.
Following a law passed by Parliament on July 7, credit card users who faced difficulty in repaying their outstanding balances were able to refinance at affordable interest rates and with long-term payment options. More than half of all credit card holders applied for the incentive through the end of the application period. Around 459,000 credit card holders out of a total of 875,000 applied to take advantage of the incentive, and TL 1.5 billion of a total of TL 3.1 billion in credit card debt countrywide was restructured. The BDDK is now considering giving those who failed to benefit the first time around a second chance.
