Will you go to jail if you owe too much on your credit card?
It's possible, but not everyone will go to jail. According to Article 196 of the Criminal Law, those who fail to pay off credit card debts for a long time can be charged with credit card fraud on the charge of "malicious overdraft".
Whoever commits credit card fraud in any of the following circumstances, if the amount is relatively large, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years or criminal detention, and shall also be fined not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan; If the amount is huge or there are other serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years but not more than ten years, and shall also be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan; If the amount is especially huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than 10 years or life imprisonment, and shall also be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 500,000 yuan or confiscated property:
(4) malicious overdraft.
Credit card fraud is an out-and-out criminal offence. Once you really go to court and get convicted and sentenced, you will leave a criminal record. Prison is on the one hand, and it will also affect future work and life.
What is malicious overdraft?
As mentioned above, malicious overdraft of credit card may lead to imprisonment, but it is not a large amount of debt, and overdue is called malicious overdraft.
According to the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate's Amendment: Malicious overdraft refers to the behavior that the cardholder overdraws beyond the prescribed limit or time limit for the purpose of illegal possession, and fails to return it for more than 3 months after being effectively collected by the issuing bank twice.
If the amount is more than 50,000 yuan but less than 500,000 yuan, it shall be deemed as "a large amount"; If the amount is more than 500,000 yuan but less than 5 million yuan, it shall be deemed as "a huge amount"; If the amount is more than 5 million yuan, it shall be deemed as "extremely huge".
In short, if the credit card arrears exceed 50,000 yuan, and it is not returned for more than 3 months after being effectively collected by the issuing bank twice, it may be handed over to the police for criminal proceedings.
What is "effective bank collection"?
Article 7 of the Interpretation stipulates that a set that meets the following conditions shall be recognized as an "effective set"
(1) After the overdraft exceeds the prescribed limit or time limit;
(2) The collection shall be conducted in a way that can confirm the cardholder's collection, unless the cardholder intentionally evades the collection;
(3) The interval between two collections is at least thirty days;
(four) in accordance with the relevant provisions or agreed to collect.
Whether it is an effective collection shall be judged according to the original evidence materials provided by the issuing bank, such as telephone recording, information delivery record, letter delivery receipt, e-mail delivery record, signature of the cardholder or his family.
The relevant evidential materials provided by the issuing bank shall have the signature of the bank staff and the official seal of the bank.
What if the police really catch you?
If it is really determined as a malicious overdraft, the police will probably not send a courier to the door as reported on TV, but send a letter in advance asking the cardholder to take the initiative to handle his credit card fraud case at XX Branch of XX Public Security Bureau on X, X, X, X.
At this time, as long as you have a good attitude, pay back the money immediately and say anything. In addition, before being sentenced to jail, there are still several opportunities to avoid jail according to law.
Article 10 of the Interpretation stipulates that if the amount of malicious overdraft is large and has been fully returned before public prosecution is initiated, or there are other minor circumstances, public prosecution may not be initiated; Those who return the full amount before the trial or have other minor circumstances may be exempted from criminal punishment. Except for those who have been punished for credit card fraud for more than two times.
What can I do to avoid being caught?
Even if you really don't have money, even if you can't get the minimum monthly repayment amount of your credit card, you have to pay back a little. Even if you only pay back 100 every month, you can't call the police to arrest you and file a criminal case. This will avoid paying back money or even going to jail in the future.
If the family has a certain economic strength, don't cling to the shortcomings at this time. Bowing to parents is much lighter than being arrested by the police. Whether parents contribute money or borrow money from relatives and friends to fill the hole, the bottomless pit of daily interest should be solved first, so as to stop more serious losses in time.
If the customer service refuses to ask the issuing bank to stop payment, it may, according to Article 70 of the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Credit Card Business of Commercial Banks, seek help from the local CBRC and the Financial Consumption Dispute Mediation Committee and ask for a coordinated solution. (Be sure to try, you can apply for interest-free for up to 5 years. Only during the suspense period, this credit card can only pay back the money, and can no longer consume and borrow.
In either case, overdue large credit card bills will definitely leave black spots on personal credit records. Credit card debt must be paid back early, and it can't be delayed, let alone robbing Peter to pay Paul to borrow money from card A and pay off the debt from card B. This will only make the debt snowball bigger and bigger and get you into a quagmire.
Even with large debts, we should actively seek solutions, live within our means and make good plans. The card debt of a regular bank can always be paid off. Don't be confused and go to a dead end!