SBI Increases Interest Rate On Credit Cards

SBI Card has raised the finance charges on every unsecured SBI Credit Card. This does not applicable to Shaurya, Defence, though. Changing will be the charges on utility bill payments, loan charges, rewards caps, and transaction fees. Effective starting from November 1, 2024, the revised interest rate on all unsecured SBI Credit Cards will be 3.75% monthly. As the SBI Card website states, the current interest rate are up to 3.50% per month (42% annually) from the transaction date.

What Is Interest Rate On Credit Cards?

From the date of the transaction if the cardholder chooses not to pay their entire balance, finance charges are to be paid at the monthly interest rate on all transactions, including unpaid E MI payments. Furthermore applicable are financing charges on all cash advances the cardholder takes till they are entirely paid back.

Unlike secured cards, unstated credit cards do not call for collateral or a security deposit. A significant number of consumers who rely on these cards for daily transactions could thus be impacted by this move.

Cash advances have interest rate applied from the date of the transaction until the final payment is made. Using a 3.5% interest rate, the SBI Card website shows a sample computation.

Unless there is a non-interest bearing retail balance outstanding, in which case the interest rate will be imposed from the transaction date, the preceding statement date determines finance costs.

No finance charges will be applied to those accounts should the current statement show no outstanding balance and the retail balance is paid in whole by the due date.

Imposition Of Fee For Utility Bill Payment

SBI Card will charge a 1% premium on utility bill payments made with SBI credit cards exceeding Rs 50,000 in a single billing cycle starting November 1, 2024. Payments for basic services including water, gas and electricity will be covered by this fee.

Conversely, if the total utility bill payments in the same billing cycle are less than Rs 50,000, no additional charges would be applied, therefore guaranteeing that smaller payments are not impacted by this fee.