Filipinos' credit card debt improves in Q1 —BSP

Filipino consumers were better able to manage their credit card debts in the first quarter of this year over the same period in 2010, according to bank reports to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). The latest BSP data showed that non-performing credit card receivables (CCRs) of banks as of last March 31 was only 13.2 percent of consumers’ total credit card payables. The year-ago figure was 14.4 percent. Universal and commercial banks (U/KBs) hold 83.8 percent of the total credit card receivables of P141.2 billion, which was higher by 8.1 percent than the level in March 2010. The BSP said this increase in total CCRs is consistent with the “decline on a quarterly comparison following the Christmas season but grow year on year." Consumers owe 16.1 percent of the “plastic" charges to the U/KBs’ subsidiaries, whose non-performing CCRs were at 14.7 percent compared to the 12.9 percent of U/KBs and non-U/KB-lined thrift banks. — TJD, GMA News