The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) announced on Thursday that it has issued new regulatory instructions to make it easier for citizens to use their credit cards abroad for legitimate travel purposes.
This comes after the CBE issued some measures on 17 October to curb the misuse of credit cards by some speculators who withdraw cash from foreign ATMs without actually traveling.
The CBE said in a statement that it received some complaints from bank customers about the difficulties they faced in contacting their banks before traveling to activate their credit card limits for overseas use. One of the main challenges was the limited time available before departure.
The CBE stressed that it is keen to facilitate the use of credit cards by citizens to cover their expenses while traveling abroad. Therefore, it decided to allow any customer to fully access their preset usage limits without providing any documents, as long as they contact the customer service of their card-issuing bank or visit one of its branches for this purpose.
However, the customer must submit proof that they used their card during their travel abroad within 90 days of activating their limits. This can be done by showing their passport stamps of departure and arrival, or by providing evidence of their continuous presence abroad if they stay longer than 90 days.
The statement warned that if the customer fails to comply, the card-issuing bank will report them to the Egyptian Credit Bureau “I-Score” and add them to the negative list. They will also be banned from issuing credit cards or accessing banking services in the future, and the relevant authorities will be notified to take the necessary actions.
