The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) has finalized its work to increase the number of payments in installments for credit card users from nine to 12 months, after BDDK President Mehmet Akben said in last month's statement that installment restrictions on credit cards and consumer loans would be stretched.

The BDDK had restricted the number of installments by credit cards to nine and removed installment applications from spending on telecommunications, particularly cellphones, food and fuel as of Jan. 2014. This application was removed from spending on jewelry 10 months later to enable consumers to buy gold in four installments by credit card. In response to demands from the finance sector and the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB), the BDDK did preliminary work to increase the number of installments for credit card users. The number of payments in installments will be increased from nine to 12. A formula will be prepared in order to prevent the increase in the number of payments in installments in some sectors to re-raise the plummeting current account deficit. There is also ongoing work to lengthen the maturity period of consumer loans from 36 months to 48 months. The issue came to the forefront during a meeting of the Financial Stability Committee where committee members were informed about people's tendencies toward consumer loans rather than credit cards.

According to sources close to the Treasury, BDDK authorities anticipate a regulation regarding installment limitations should not negatively affect the current account deficit. They said payments for longer-term installments through cellphones expose people to debts with higher interest rates leading them to buy more expensive products.