Beginning March 3, 2018, persons who are between 15 and 18 years old can open debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards without the need to provide proof of income’s sources, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.(Source: antd.vn) Hanoi (VNA) - Beginning March 3, 2018, persons who are between 15 and 18years old can open debit cards, credit cards and prepaid cards without the needto provide proof of income’s sources, according to the State Bank of Vietnam.
Moreover, persons who are from 6 to 15 years old can create debit cardsassociated with their parents’ and guardians’ accounts.
The new decree left some parents confused about how they would control theirchildren’s spending.
Ngoc Mai in Ba Trieu district told Lao dong (Labour) newspaper that shefound the policy infeasible.
“I will never let my children open credit cards with overdraft lines when theyare under 18 years old as I do not know what they’ll spend,” she said.
Sharing the same concern, Nguyen Son in the downtown district of Hoan Kiem inHanoi said that persons between 15 and 18 were not able to manage theirpersonal spending.
“At that age, the management and supervision from parents and schools areimportant to their full development. Therefore, my children are not allowed tohave their own credit cards,” he said.
However, according to the newspaper, it is not easy for persons aged 15 to 18to register credit cards at commercial banks with high overdraft lines as it isdifficult for them to repay the debt. An officer of the State Bank of Vietnam,moreover, stressed that the decree was a solution to reduce cash payments.
“Vietnam will promote payment without cash in the near future, therefore,rather than preventing their children from using credit cards, parents can setspending limits by transferring a fixed amount of money to their accounts toeasily control their expenditures,” he said.
Hanoi authorities in March 2018 set a plan to set up cashless payment systems atall supermarkets, restaurants and department stores by 2020. Also, it isexpected that 60 percent of households will use cashless payment platforms fortheir daily needs and 70 percent of citizens over age 15 to have bankaccounts.-VNA
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