Republic Bank credit card customers are up in arms following the bank’s announcement over the weekend that T&T’s largest bank, (RBL), was cutting in half the maximum US dollar spending limit per billing cycle on their Republic Bank credit cards. T&T’s largest bank, Republic Bank Ltd (RBL) has posted the company’s assets totaling $114.4 billion as at June 30, 2023.
In an email notice to its customers, which was reproduced on its website, RBL advised that the US-dollar credit card limit would be reduced from US$10,000 to US$5,000 effective September 21, 2023. The reason for the reduction in the US-dollar credit card limit, which is until further notice, was not provided in the company’s communications to customers.
In its emailed notice, RBL said: “This change includes all transactions conducted outside of T&T as well as all international online transactions, including transactions where the chosen billing currency is TT dollar. “These online transactions will be included in your US$5,000 billing cycle limit. All local TT-dollar transactions conducted online or at merchants remain unaffected.
The RBL advisory also indicated that the limit on its pre-paid VTM card would also be adjusted downwards effective October 1, 2023. The maximum VTM card balance will be reduced from US$5,000 to US$3,000 while online VTM loads would be reduced from US$1,000 to US$500.
The bank’s move has received severe criticisms online and on radio talk shows over the weekend. On July 21, RBL increased the daily transaction limit for point-of-sale and e-commerce transactions from $10,000 to $50,000, meaning that customer transactions done at point-of-sale terminals and via e-commerce, when added together can be as high as $50,000.
For the nine-month period ending June 30, 2023, Republic Financial Holdings Ltd (RFHL), which is the parent company of Republic Bank Ltd, recorded a profit attributable to its shareholders of $1.26 billion, which was 10.2 percent more than it earned for the same period in the previous financial year. RFHL has expanded throughout the region from the Cayman Islands in the north to Suriname and also operates in Ghana.