Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) issued two board decisions on October 1, 2026, changing how credit card minimum payments are calculated and how long consumers can take to repay loans used to buy smartphones, according to Sözcü, NTV and Hürriyet.
What changed for credit card minimum payments
Under Board Decision No. 11582, BDDK raised the credit limit threshold used to determine minimum payment percentages from 50,000 lira to 100,000 lira, Sözcü and Hürriyet reported. For cards with a limit of 100,000 lira or below, the minimum payment stays at 20% of the period's debt. For cards with limits above 100,000 lira, the minimum payment is set at 40% of the period's debt.
Before this decision, the 40% minimum payment rate applied to any card with a limit above 50,000 lira. Raising the threshold to 100,000 lira means more cardholders now fall under the lower 20% minimum payment bracket, according to the reports.
New limits on smartphone financing
Under Board Decision No. 11581, dated October 1, 2026, BDDK revised the price thresholds that determine maximum loan terms for consumer loans used to buy mobile phones, according to Sözcü, NTV and Hürriyet. Standard smartphones priced at 40,000 lira or below can now be financed over up to 12 months, up from a previous threshold of 20,000 lira. Phones priced above 40,000 lira remain limited to a three-month loan term, the same limit that already applied to phones above the old 20,000-lira threshold.
Different limits apply to refurbished devices purchased through authorized renewal centers: phones priced at 50,000 lira or below can be financed over up to 12 months, while those above 50,000 lira are limited to three months, according to Sözcü and Hürriyet.
The ban on using credit card installments to buy new smartphones remains in place. Installment payment via credit card continues to be allowed only for refurbished phones, with a maximum term of 12 months and no stated price ceiling, the reports said.
BDDK's new smartphone loan term limits| Device type | Price threshold | Maximum loan term |
|---|
| Standard phone | ≤40,000 TL | 12 months |
|---|
| Standard phone | ＞40,000 TL | 3 months |
|---|
| Refurbished phone | ≤50,000 TL | 12 months |
|---|
| Refurbished phone | ＞50,000 TL | 3 months |
|---|
Previous rules
Before the October 1 decision, the consumer-loan term limits for phone purchases were narrower: 20,000 lira for standard devices and 25,000 lira for refurbished devices, NTV reported, meaning the new thresholds roughly double the price bands eligible for the longer 12-month term.
None of the three outlets reported a specific date on which the new rules take effect, nor did they cite an official statement from BDDK explaining the rationale behind the changes.
What is not yet known
The reports reviewed did not include a published rationale from BDDK, such as a reference to inflation, household debt levels or monetary policy, for either decision. It is also not yet clear from these reports when banks must begin applying the new minimum payment and loan-term rules to customer accounts.
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