The bank card will be automatically canceled if it has not been used for several years and the account balance is zero, but the specific regulations shall prevail.
1. If the bank card of Bank of China and China Construction Bank has not been used for 3 years and has no balance, the bank will take the initiative to cancel it.
2. Agricultural Bank of China will cancel the accounts of bank cards that have not been used within five years, and will convert them into dormant accounts if they have been used within two years.
3. Bank of Communications will cancel bank cards that have not been used for two years.
4. China Merchants Bank will not take the initiative to cancel the customer's bank card. Even if it has not been used for a long time, it will remain in normal use until the customer takes the initiative to apply for cancellation.
On February 12, 2015, the 2014 payment system operation report released by the People's Bank of China showed that as of the end of 2014, a total of 4.936 billion bank cards had been issued nationwide, an increase of 17.13% from the end of the previous year. Among them, a total of 4.481 billion debit cards and 455 million credit cards were issued. Data show that as of the end of 2014, the average number of bank cards held by people nationwide was 3.64, an increase of 17.04% from the end of the previous year.
Among them, the average number of credit cards held per capita was 0.34, an increase of 17.24% from the end of the previous year. The per capita credit card ownership in Beijing and Shanghai is still much higher than the national average, reaching 1.7 and 1.33 respectively. According to the report, China's credit card credit scale has grown moderately, and the credit utilization rate continues to rise. As of the end of 2014, the total amount of credit card credit was 5.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.5%. The average credit limit of credit cards is 12,300 yuan, and the credit utilization rate is 41.69%, an increase of 1.4 percentage points from the end of the previous year. The total outstanding credit card credit overdue for six months was 35.764 billion yuan, an increase of 10.572 billion yuan or 41.97% from the end of the previous year.
On March 18, 2019, the central bank released the overall operation of the payment system in 2018. As of the end of 2018, the number of bank cards in use and issued nationwide was 7.597 billion. Among them, a total of 686 million credit cards and debit cards are in use. The average Chinese person holds 5.46 bank cards, and on average every two people hold one credit card and debit card. In addition, the scale of bank card credit increased moderately, and the proportion of total outstanding credit that was overdue for six months decreased.
As of the end of 2018, the total amount of bank card credit in China was 15.4 trillion yuan, and the average credit limit of cards was 22,400 yuan. The total amount of outstanding credit card credit that was overdue for six months was 78.861 billion yuan, accounting for 1.16% of the credit card balance payable, a decrease of 0.18 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter. On April 22, 2019, China UnionPay released the "China Bank Card Industry Development Report (2019)". The report shows that in 2018, the UnionPay network’s transfer transaction value further increased its share of the global bank card clearing market and continued to rank first in the world. At the same time, the scale of bank card issuance and acceptance has further expanded. The total number of UnionPay cards issued globally has exceeded 7.59 billion. The global UnionPay card acceptance network has extended to 174 countries and regions, covering more than 53.7 million merchants and 2.86 million ATMs. Use the card to add value. Services are constantly being enriched.