Greece’s Credit Card Market Stuck in Neutral

Aprolonged period of stagnation continues to define Greece’s credit card market, despite banks rolling out new offers and strengthening incentives to encourage their use in everyday transactions.

Household credit card balances now stand at levels even lower than those recorded before Greece adopted the euro. According to the latest data from the Bank of Greece, outstanding credit card balances amounted to 2.26 billion euros at the end of last Oct., marking the fifth consecutive year below the 2.5 billion euros threshold.

This represents a dramatic reversal from the past. At the time of the euro’s introduction, credit card debt stood at about 3.7 billion euros, before soaring to nearly 10 billion euros by early 2009 during the retail banking boom. Loose lending and a surge in consumer spending fuelled the rise, while interest rates often above 15% magnified debts when the crisis hit.

Banks initially sought to contain the problem by restructuring card debt into instalment loans, tightening credit criteria and cutting limits on active cards. These measures reduced balances to about 5 billion euros by 2015.

The decisive clean-up, however, came between 2019 and 2021, when the four systemic banks shed almost all non-performing credit card exposures as part of broader balance-sheet repair programmes. Since early 2021, outstanding balances have remained below 2.3 billion euros.

Banking executives attribute today’s stagnation to a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. Credit cards, they note, are no longer used as long-term borrowing tools but mainly as payment instruments, benefiting from interest-free grace periods of up to 50 days and instalment plans at no extra cost.

Practices common in the 2000s—maxing out limits and servicing debt with minimum payments—have largely disappeared.

Still, bankers argue that current market levels are far from optimal. After years of caution, institutions are now seeking to expand their card base without excessive risk, offering welcome bonuses and enhanced rewards through loyalty programmes to reignite growth.