Credit cards in the Czech Republic: recent history and present

The number of credit cards issued and used in the Czech Republic is increasing quickly, and these figures are worth a closer inspection. This paper outlines the latest developments in the consumer card market and examines two prevalent types of products—revolving credit cards issued by consumer loan companies and bank-issued credit cards. The main features of these products, recent historical developments and the current issuers and their products are presented for both types. For revolving credit cards, a detailed comparison of the most prevalent products is presented. For bank-issued cards, a link to an online service that enables side-by-side comparisons of selected products is provided. At the end, this paper compares both types of credit cards along several basic criteria.