BALASUBRAMANIAM is facing problems paying back his outstanding credit card debt, which has grown to almost RM10,000 over the years.

He said the debt had been rising sharply due to accumulated interest. Worse, due to financial problems,
BALASUBRAMANIAM has also not been paying the monthly instalment.

This has made the situation worse due to penalties charged and even higher interest charged.

He is now pleading with the bank to reduce the debt amount so that he can work towards full repayment.

WITH excess cash seemingly scarce these days with everyone tightening their belts, it makes sense to review your current monthly income and expense status to see if you're being a little more extravagant than you should be.

MANY swipe without thinking, unaware of the risks of being blacklisted or declared bankrupt for failing to pay their credit card debts. This is the general consensus of consumer groups on the alarming number of credit card users below the age of 30 who were blacklisted and later declared bankrupt due to credit card debts.

National Consumer Complaints Centre chief executive officer Muhammad Sha’ani Abdullah said the manner in which some financial institutions acted when it came to credit card applications was unethical.

THOSE under-30 are the leading age group for people declared bankrupt due to credit card debt. This startling finding reveals the other dimension to the general problem of credit card debt which has now reached RM23.3 billion.

“Out of the 3,548 people declaring bankruptcy by credit card, 1,774 belong to those aged 30 and below,” said Datuk Abdul Karim Abdul Jalil, director-general of the Department of Insolvency Malaysia.

CREDIT card debt in the country has not yet reached a critical level, according to the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK).

Its chief executive officer Mohamed Akwal Sultan said that based on Bank Negara Malaysia's statistics, the debt stood at RM24.4 billion as at end of March 2009.

He said up to that period, loans via credit cards accounted for only 6.1 per cent of the total financing by banking institutions.

"The number of credit card debt is still low."