One in four Brazilians who made purchases on the credit card in February 2019 entered the revolving credit and started to pay very high interest rates. The average interest rates charged by credit card companies in Brazil in February 2019 were around scary 286.9% per year, according to a survey conducted by SPC Brazil (Credit Protection Service) and CNDL (National Confederation of Directors Shopkeepers).
Most of the credit expenditures in Brazil in February 2019 were food (66%), medicines (46%), clothing (36%) and fuel (35%).
Charging interest of 286.9% a year for those who bought things like medicines and food is producing a multitude of citizens in debt in Brazil. In 2018, 62.6 million Brazilians reached the end of the year with some backlog, which represents 41% of the country's adult population. Meanwhile, Brazilian banks charge the highest spreads in the civilized world and cut credit lines.
In a country where the population outside the workforce has reached the frightening number of 65.7 million people, it is understandable to understand that a person who is unemployed and can not get a less expensive line of credit ends up falling on the revolving credit and becoming a prisoner of unpayable debts on the credit card.
The continued rise in unemployment also increases the level of population indebtedness, but the government does nothing at all. In a picture like the current one, there are those in Brazil who defend a ceiling on the value of interest on purchases of basic necessities such as medicines and food.
