Singapore legislation
Regulation 18B
Regulation 18B
Debt consolidation amount
Subregulation 1
Subject to paragraph (6), a card issuer that permits any amount to be charged to a fully unsecured or partially secured credit card or charge card issued to a Singapore cardholder does not contravene regulation 14(2) or (3), 16(2) or 17(2)(a) if the amount charged is a debt consolidation amount.
Subregulation 2
Subject to paragraph (6), a card issuer that issues a fully unsecured or partially secured credit card or charge card to a Singapore cardholder does not contravene regulation 16(6)(a), 17(2)(b) or 17A(2)(b) if the credit card or charge card is issued solely to enable a debt consolidation amount to be charged to the credit card or charge card.
Subregulation 3
Subject to paragraph (6), a card issuer that increases the aggregate credit limit granted to a Singapore cardholder does not contravene regulation 16(6)(b) or 17(2)(c) if the aggregate credit limit is increased solely to enable a debt consolidation amount to be charged to a credit card or charge card issued to the Singapore cardholder.
Subregulation 3A
Subject to paragraph (6), regulation 17A(2)(a) does not apply to an increase of the credit limit of a relevant card or facility referred to in regulation 17A(3) if the increase is solely to enable a debt consolidation amount to be charged to a credit card or charge card issued to the Singapore cardholder.
Subregulation 4
In this regulation and regulation 18C, “debt consolidation amount”, for a card issuer mentioned in paragraph (1), (2) or (3), means an amount equal to or less than an amount determined by the formula 1.05 × A, where —
A is any of the following amounts, or a sum comprising 2 or more of the following amounts:
any amount outstanding (which may include fees, interest, charges and late payment charges) on any credit card or charge card issued to the Singapore cardholder by the card issuer or any other card issuer;
any amount outstanding (which may include fees, interest, charges and late payment charges) on any fully unsecured non-card credit facility granted to the Singapore cardholder by any lender (whether or not the card issuer); and
A is determined by the card issuer based on the documents mentioned in paragraph (5).
Subregulation 5
For the purpose of paragraph (4)(b), the documents are documents obtained by, or in the possession of, the card issuer that —
provide evidence of the amount or amounts mentioned in paragraph (4)(a); and
are dated no earlier than 3 months before the date that the card issuer determines A.
Subregulation 6
Paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (3A) apply only if the card issuer has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the debt consolidation amount charged to the credit card or charge card will be paid or applied in accordance with one or more of the following sub-paragraphs (whichever is applicable):
paid to the other card issuer for the purpose of repaying the amount outstanding on a credit card or charge card issued to the Singapore cardholder by that other card issuer;
paid to the other lender for the purpose of repaying the amount outstanding on a fully unsecured non-card credit facility granted to the Singapore cardholder by that other lender;
applied to the repayment of the amount outstanding on a credit card or charge card issued to the Singapore cardholder by the card issuer;
applied to the repayment of the amount outstanding on a fully unsecured non-card credit facility granted to the Singapore cardholder by the card issuer.