Illustration representing bank credit card limit management

In transactions carried out through banks, a certain limit is set due to the rules and requirements of institutions such as the BRSA (BDDK) and MASAK, as well as the measures banks take to reduce risk, and transactions above this limit are not approved.

In the world of payment systems, account transactions are managed by maintaining limits such as;

  • ATM Cash Withdrawal Limit
  • ATM Cash Deposit Limit
  • Wire Transfer Limit, etc.

So how is limit setting and management done for credit cards?

The process of setting a limit on a credit card is called Limit Allocation. Although it may appear that a limit is being allocated to your card, the limit is actually allocated to the customer. Many parameters are checked when allocating a limit to a customer. Basically;

  • The customer's credit bureau (KKB) score
  • The total of card limits granted by other banks
  • The customer's payment performance
  • The customer's income level
  • Whether they own their home
  • The number of dependents they support
  • When the customer obtained their first card is taken into account.

If the customer;

  • Has an overdue payment
  • Has a low income level
  • Has experienced delays in past payments
  • Has a high limit on credit cards used at other banks, the limit set by the bank may be very low, or the card application may be rejected.

Credit card limit management at banks is done on a customer basis. Although how the limit is used varies from bank to bank, the general usage rules are as follows:

  • If a customer has more than one credit card, the limit of any given credit card can be at most equal to the customer limit.
  • Even if the total available limit of all the customer's cards exceeds the customer limit, the total spending across all cards cannot exceed the customer limit.

Let's explain the above situation with an example:

Let's assume Mr. Ahmet has 3 credit cards from GuvenBank:

  • Customer Limit : 7000 TL
  • Card 1 Limit : 3000 TL
  • Card 2 Limit : 5000 TL
  • Card 3 Limit : 7000 TL.

All 3 of the customer's cards can have a limit of at most 7000 TL.

When 2500 TL is spent on Card 1 and 3500 TL is spent on Card 2, even though Card 3's limit is 7000 TL, since at most 7000 TL of the total customer limit can be used, at most 1000 TL can be spent on Card 3.


LimitUsed LimitAvailable Limit
Customer7000

Card 1300025004500
Card 2500035001000
Card 3700010000