Credit card users urged to report abusive collectors

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is building a database of consumer complaints against credit card firms that are unfair and unreasonable. This move forms part of the central bank's continuing program to uphold consumer rights and make credit card firms accountable for their abusive and unfair behavior, BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. said in an interview Monday. The central bank pointed out that some credit card firms are behaving in abusive and unfair manner, sometimes intimidating cardholders with legal or physical threats for not paying on time. Behavior like this will no longer be tolerated, Tetangco said. He said consumers should report the alleged infractions of collecting agents to the central bank, or nothing will happen to the incident "because we cannot be a party to something we do not know about." "A formal complaint to our financial consumer affairs group is needed before we can act. Otherwise, we are not an interested party to the issue," Tetangco said. Tetangco said that credit card issuers often engage in third-party entities to do the collection for them. "These are outsourced arrangements. We can always recall the prior approval to undertake the outsourcing should they become abusive," he said. Having a database of infractions, every consumer complaint reaching the central bank comes in handy, Tetangco said. The BSP recently passed a set of credit card reforms in the wake of consumer complaints over exorbitant credit card charges that prompted a knee-jerk reaction from legislators who wanted to put a cap on interest rates. Some reforms pertain to collection practices that include the mandatory period before a delinquent account is passed onto a collection agency and the need for the collection agency to inform the cardholder it is now handling the account. — JE, GMANews.TV