Study On Overdue Interest And Late Payment Fee Or Penalty Of Credit Card

In recent years,credit card disputes have flooded into the courts.During the trial,some credit card cases have been found to have a monthly interest rate of over 2%,even 6%or 7%of the sum of late fees.Therefore,some judges in judicial practice reduce the charge of credit card cases accordingly.Credit cards originated in the United States and were introduced to China in the 1980s,also developed rapidly in the 21^st century.The legal relationship of the credit card involves of the bank,the cardholder and the special merchant.The theories of the relationship among the three parties include the agency theory,the creditor's rights trading theory,and the debt commitment theory,etc.But after the special merchant exiting,the relationship between the card issuer and the cardholder is similar to the unsecured loans,but we cannot deny that the legal relationship of the credit card is different from ordinary lending relationship.Overdue interest of credit card is the loss of interest that the cardholder should bear when the cardholder fails to repay the loan during the interest-free repayment period.In addition,the cardholder should also pay the card issuer a certain amount of late payment fee.In 2016,the People's Bank issued the“Notice on Matters Related to Credit Card Business”,which stipulated that the late payment fee should be cancelled,and the card issuer and the cardholder should agree to the penalties.However,the revised credit card regulations and contract of major commercial banks have no essential difference from the agreement on the late payment fee before.Some judges and scholars believe that according to the principle of fairness and equality of the Constitution,credit card overdue interest and late payment fees or penalties can be limited by reference to the relevant provisions of private lending.However,some scholars believe that the Bank Card Business Management Method has clearly stipulated that commercial banks can charge late payment fees,and the contract is negotiated by both parties on an equal footing,which belongs to the scope of mutual autonomy.Judging from the cases of judicial practice in recent years,there are indeed some cases in which credit card overdue interest and late payment fees or penalties are excessive.The overdue interest is the compensation for the late payment of the credit card issuer,and the late payment fee or penalties is a punitive liability for the cardholder's breach of contract.In the case that the card issuer should suspend the card,the loss of the card issuer has been determined.According to the provisions of the Contract Law on the penalties limit,the sum of overdue interest and late payment fees or penalties should also be limited according to the regulations.And in foreign countries and Taiwan or Hongkong,There are restrictions of late payment fees or penalties.Therefore,from the perspective of promoting the long-term healthy development of the credit card industry,we should limit the credit card overdue interest and late payment fees or penalties to a reasonable range.From the current point of view,it is reasonable that the sum of the two is limited to the annual interest rate of 24%.In the long run,with reference to foreign regulations and the practices already practiced by some banks,it is more reasonable for the PBOC to limit the period of collection of credit card and the maximum amount of each period.