New Delhi: Making the payment process easy for credit card dues, many Indian banks are offering schemes to credit card holders to convert their credit card loan to a lower interest bank loan on a long tenure, reports Economic Times.

Almost all major banks, including ICICI Bank and Citibank, are offering similar schemes but don't want to publicize them, which could increase the risk of more card users defaulting on regular obligations and opting for these easier settlement options. A senior ICICI Bank official said, "There are various structured payment plans that we've been offering. These limited schemes are worked out in consultation with the customer as an alternative repayment plan."

So, now if any person has an outstanding loan of around Rs.2 lakh and are paying an interest as high as 18 percent, you can convert this into a regular loan, spread over a period of three years, where your interest rate may be as low as 12 percent. "We have a retention-oriented, assistance-based collections process, and if there is a genuine inability to pay, we work closely with customers to offer repayment solutions based on his or her cash-flows," said Sandeep Bhalla, Business Manager Cards, Citibank. Currently, Citibank hasank has around 2.5 million card holders. A spokesperson for CIBIL said that when a bank reports a restructured loan it gets captured as such in the CIBIL records and is reflected similarly in the credit report.

The credit card base had dropped 21percent to 21.1 million by the end of October 2009 from 26.7 million a year ago. Credit card outstanding has also declined by 12.13 percent to Rs.5,660 crore at the end of October 2009, from 6,442 crore a year ago.