英闻天下——290 New Measures on Credit Card Service

 　　The revised measures for China's bank card industry requires banks to keep cardholders informed about their credit card service details such as various fee rates and possible risks. And banks are required to remind cardholders at least three days before the repayment¹ due date through bills, text messages, emails, phone calls or letters.

 

　　Meanwhile, the revised convention requires the banks to establish tolerance² repayment mechanisms⁴, as well as longer repayment grace periods. When cardholders repay the bills within three days after the due date, they should be regarded as repaid on time.

 

　　Cao Bin⁵, department head with the Beijing branch of China Construction Bank explains.

 

　　"As for the new repayment grace period: if our client fails to repay the bill by the repayment due date, however, he completes his repayment in full within five days after due date, we'll still consider the repayment as being on time without any interest being charged. As for the tolerance repayment mechanism³: when cardholders do not repay the full amount, and the portion due is less than or equal to 10 yuan, we'll also regard it as repaid on time, without any interest charge."

 

　　Previously⁶, when any cardholder did not repay the bill in full – for instance, he paid 99 yuan for a 100 yuan bill – the bank calculated the interest rate based on his 100 yuan bill, rather than the one yuan he has yet to pay.

 

　　The new measures are solving this problem for cardholders. Many cardholders say it saves them lots of trouble.

 

　　"For example, when I get a bill of 310 yuan, I only pay back 300 yuan. And the unpaid⁷ 10 yuan amount will be automatically transferred to my next bill. It saves me the trouble of waiting in the long line at the bank when any miscalculation happens."

 

　　"Cardholders are allowed to repay within three days after the repayment due date, and they won't be regarded as late nor will it reflect badly on their credit record. I think this is good, and the new measures indicate the banks are being more considerate about cardholders. Plus the banks are providing more services such as reminding us about repayment due dates."

 

　　Some cardholders say the new measures will benefit young people most, because late payments mean a bad credit record when they apply for a loan from the bank the longer repayment grace period will help them avoid bad credit record.

 

　　Some experts say although these measures may affect the bank's interest income, but the development of the bank card business does not depend on the high interest penalties. Banks should focus on getting more customers by improving service and their expanding card volume.

 

　　Kevin Wang, associate director of Nielsen China, estimates that by the end of 2013, there will be 360 million credit cards in China. The pace of growth will slow.

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Wan⁸.

1 repayment   

n.偿还，偿还款；报酬

参考例句：

• I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
• The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。

2 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

3 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

4 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

8 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。