Credit card bad debts up

KOTA BARU: Bankruptcy cases due to credit card debts rose from 1,152 in 2003 to 1,497 last year and this has got the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry worried.

Its Consumer Affairs Division director Ismail Jantan said youths who did not know how to save and who spent on luxury items were some of the causes of the bad debts.

Some 8.4 million credit card holders owed financial institutions and corporate firms some RM167mil to date, he said at the launch of a smart consumer roadshow at the KB Mall here.

With the rising cost of living due to the increase in fuel prices and inflation, Ismail said consumers needed to know how to become smart spenders.
On get-rich-quick schemes, especially scratch and win contests, Ismail said many of the victims were women.

However, in recent months the ministry discovered that certain victims were professionals who were cheated by offers on the Internet. Up to October this year, 604 cases of consumer fraud were reported to the tribunal courts.
Ismail said many victims would not recover their "investments" and there was a need to promote good consumerism among the people, especially on wise spending to avoid being cheated.