Costa Rica Credit Cards.

The credit card issuers blame the high interest rates on high administrative costs and higher financing risks.

According to the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Comercio (MEIC) there are 342 types of credit cards in Costa Rica from 28 issuers with interest rates ranging from 19.75% – 50.4%

There are 70 private bank issuers of credit cards, 21 commercial issuers from the the state banks, 7 banks created by ‘special laws and one other financial entity that issues credit cards.

The majority (205 of the 342) charge more than 30% per annum in interest although tougher competition has forced interest rates lower in recent years.

Costa Rica Credit Card Ranking – Interest is in Costa Rica colones from the lowest to highest interest charged:

1. Banco Nacional de Costa Rica Domestic 13%
2. Desarrollo BN-Pymes MasterCard International 14.5%
3. Coopenae R.L. Visa International 17.75%
4. Caja de la ANDE MasterCard Domestic 18%
5. Banco de Costa Rica Visa & MasterCard International 19.75%
6. CoopeAmistad R.L. Visa Domestic 19.75%
7. Banco Cuscatlan Visa International 20%
8. Banco Improsa Visa International 20.4%
9. Banco Improsa Clasica Visa International 21%
10. Banco Nacional de Costa Rica MasterCard International 21%

According to the Superintendencia General de Entidades Financieras (SUGEF), the growth in Costa Rica credit card issuance since the year 2000 has been 9-13% per year, between 2002 and 2007 the debt has grown from c179,000 million to 360,000 million with about 13% of their customers now late with their payments.

Written by Scott Oliver, author of How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa and Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.