Chile Financial Market Commission issues credit card minimum payment rule requiring non-financeable amount plus 5 percent of financeable balance

Chile’s Financial Market Commission (CMF) issued General Rule No. 537, following a public consultation, to standardise how credit card minimum payments are calculated and to set conditions under which issuers may temporarily exempt cardholders from making a minimum payment, in line with the over-indebtedness measures introduced by Law No. 21,673. The rule sets the minimum payment as the sum of a non-financeable amount (NFA) plus 5 percent of the financeable amount (FA). The NFA comprises interest-free instalments due in the billing period, interest, fees, and other charges such as taxes or insurance premiums, and the final text removes instalments with interest from the NFA compared with the consultation version. Issuers may grant exemptions under internal policies only if the exempted debt is fully amortised within a maximum of 24 months, and exemptions may be applied for up to two consecutive months. The amendments update Chapter 8-41 of the Updated Compilation of Banking Regulations and Circular Letter No. 1 for non-banking payment card issuers, applying to entities supervised by the CMF under Article 2 of the General Banking Act. The framework takes effect one year after issuance. Inclusion of interest-free instalments in the NFA will be phased in, increasing by 25 percent every six months, and will be fully incorporated two years after issuance.