Major banks continue to accelerate the withdrawal of "sleep credit cards"

　　According to incomplete statistics, more than 20 banks have taken action to clean up this year. Users can check the number of their own cards with one click.

　　More and more banks are starting to clean up sleep credit cards.

A few days ago, banks such as Bank of Beijing and Minsheng Bank issued announcements one after another, canceling and freezing sleep cards or credit cards in abnormal states.

In addition to sleep cards that have not been used for a long time, excess credit cards are also within the scope of bank cleanup.

According to incomplete statistics, this year more than 20 banks have taken action to clean up sleep cards or excess credit cards, and commercial banks have significantly accelerated the control of credit cards.

　　A number of banks announced to clean up the "sleep card"

　　On November 10, Minsheng Bank issued the "Announcement on the Safety Management of Sleep Cards and Long-term Fixed Accounts".

From December 26, 2022, the bank will gradually carry out account security management for sleep card and long-term immobile accounts.

The scope of control includes three types of credit cards: one is a long-term fixed credit card account that has been activated but has not been used for more than three consecutive years (including three years), and the account balance is less than RMB 10 (or equivalent foreign currency); the other is a credit card that has been activated However, the sleep card has not been used for more than 18 months; the third is a credit card that has applied for a Minsheng credit card through the online application method and has not submitted complete application materials for more than 6 months.

　　Minsheng Bank stated that credit card accounts or cards that meet the above conditions will be included in the scope of account security management, and credit card accounts or cards will be frozen in stages.

　　This month, Bank of Beijing also issued the "Announcement on Cleaning Up Personal Credit Cards".

According to the announcement, Bank of Beijing will regularly cancel credit cards that are abnormal and have not been traded for more than 18 consecutive months, or expired credit cards.

If all the cards under the account have been canceled and there is no arrears or overpayment in the account, the credit card account under the customer's name will also be canceled.

　　Prior to this, Zhejiang Mintai Commercial Bank, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, China Everbright Bank and many other banks also successively issued announcements to restrict or even cancel accounts of sleep credit cards that have not been used for a long time.

　　Limit the number of cards held by the same customer

　　In addition to disabling long-term sleep cards, more and more banks have announced that they will start cleaning up excess credit cards and impose stricter restrictions on the number of credit cards held by the same customer.

　　In February this year, Minsheng Bank Credit Card announced that starting from April 7, 2022, the maximum number of Minsheng credit card principal cards held by Minsheng credit card principal cardholders in their own names is 20, and the number of supplementary cards in all credit card accounts under their names is limited to 20. The upper limit is 10.

The maximum number of supplementary cards that can be applied for by the same main card is 8.

Credit cards that exceed the limit on the number of cards held will not be used normally.

　　On October 27, Industrial Bank issued an announcement requiring the same customer to hold no more than 6 credit cards in normal status when opening a new credit card account with the bank.

　　On October 25, China Merchants Bank issued an announcement requiring the same cardholder to hold no more than 20 (including 20) credit card principal cards and supplementary cards in China Merchants Bank. The number of valid cards shall not exceed 10 (including 10), and the number of valid cards of the supplementary card under its liability shall not exceed 10 (including 10).

　　In the future, the proportion standard of sleep card will be lowered dynamically

　　According to data from the central bank, as of the end of the second quarter of this year, a total of 807 million credit cards and debit cards have been issued nationwide, compared with 460 million in 2016.

The rapid development of the credit card industry has played an important role in stimulating the economy and increasing consumption, but it has also exposed many problems that cannot be ignored.

　　This year's semi-annual report shows that core indicators such as credit card issuance volume, credit balance, and transaction scale of major banks have only increased by single digits, and the credit card business of many banks has stagnated or even experienced negative growth.

　　On July 7 this year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China issued the "Notice on Further Promoting the Standardized and Healthy Development of Credit Card Business".

The document requires banks not to directly or indirectly use the number of cards issued, the number of customers, market share or market ranking as a single or main assessment indicator.

Strengthen the dynamic monitoring and management of sleep credit cards. The number of long-term sleep credit cards with no active transactions by customers for more than 18 consecutive months and the current overdraft balance and overpayment are zero shall not exceed 20% of the total card issuance of the institution at any point in time. Additional Credit cards with policy features are excluded.

Banking financial institutions that exceed this ratio are not allowed to issue new cards.

It is understood that in the future, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission will also dynamically lower the limit on the proportion of long-term sleep credit cards, and continue to urge the industry to reduce the proportion of sleep credit cards to a lower level.

　　Credit card business needs to change to a refined model

　　Dong Zheng, a senior credit card research expert, pointed out that there are only two ways for banks to reduce the proportion of sleep cards.

One is to wake up the sleep card.

Through the design of rights and interests, provide corresponding gifts for some users who have not activated the card after applying for the card or have become sleep cards after opening the card, so as to attract these users to open the card or wake up to use it.

But this method is less effective, and it is not fair to users who use cards normally.

The second is the method that more and more banks are taking now: proactively sell cards.

This method is more efficient.

　　Dong Zheng emphasized that for many card-issuing banks, the implementation of the new regulations is a "forced" change.

The credit card business needs to change from an extensive business model that relies on incremental development to a refined business model that subdivides customer groups, and the bank's business philosophy must change from "emphasis on attracting new ones and ignoring retention" to "emphasis on stock and efficiency."

Instead of waiting and watching, card-issuing banks should actively embrace change and redefine the positioning of credit card business according to their own development stage, income target and risk tolerance. It must not only meet the regulatory requirements, but also adapt to the needs of business development, and take advantage of the overall adjustment of the industry. , and gradually build a credit card business model oriented towards high-quality development.

　　Text/Reporter Cheng Jie Coordinator/Chi Haibo

　　hint

　　"One-key check card" can check how many cards you have

　　What if you're not sure how many credit cards you have?

You can try to inquire in the "One-click card checking" service of the UnionPay app.

　　The real-name users of the UnionPay app can see the "one-click card check" service column in the commonly used applications on the homepage, or directly search for "one-click card check".

Currently, the service supports UnionPay card account inquiries in more than 100 banks.

After passing the identity authentication, the cardholder can submit an inquiry application.

After the application is successful, the UnionPay App will generate an inquiry report within 24 hours and send a text message to the user’s mobile phone number registered with the UnionPay App.

Users who receive SMS notifications can check the report through the entry of the Union QuickPass App inquiry page.

The content of the report is generated based on the data fed back by commercial banks to provide users with desensitized card information, which will be automatically deleted by the system after 7 natural days to fully protect the information security of users.

　　A reporter from Beijing Youth Daily found that within two minutes after applying, he received the SMS notification of the report generation. After entering the payment password on the Union QuickPass App, he could view the report. The debit cards and credit cards of each bank can be seen at a glance, which is very convenient. .

　　It should be noted that some UnionPay cards with abnormal circumstances such as unreserved mobile phone numbers and expired ID documents do not yet support the "one-click card check" inquiry service.

(Beijing Youth Daily)