Consumer credit expected to accelerate in the last months of the year

Increase loan limit to 400 million VND

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has just issued Circular No. 41/2025/TT-NHNN amending and supplementing a number of articles of Circular No. 40/2024/TT-NHNN regulating the provision of intermediary payment services. One of the important contents of the new circular is to increase the transaction limit via e-wallets of individual customers for some payment transactions from 100 million VND to 300 million VND/month.

Notably, in order to meet the capital needs of both people and financial companies, while stimulating consumption and contributing to economic growth, in the Draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular No. 43/2016/TT-NHNN and Circular 18/2019/TT-NHNN on consumer loans of financial companies, the State Bank has adjusted the total outstanding consumer loan balance for a customer from VND 100 million to VND 400 million.

According to the Vietnam Banking Association, a number of financial companies, and regional State Bank, the above adjustment is consistent with current spending and consumption needs, based on review and reference in relation to a number of issued regulations. The total outstanding debt level specified in this clause does not apply to consumer loans for car purchases and the use of that car as collateral for that loan according to the provisions of law.

In addition to adjusting the limit, the Draft Circular also amends and supplements a number of contents related to the organizational structure and authority of the SBV units after the Government issued Decree No. 26/2025/ND-CP stipulating the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the SBV.

However, Dr. Nguyen Quoc Hung, General Secretary of the Vietnam Banking Association, noted that in terms of capital sources and interest rates, it is necessary to assess the ability to mobilize medium and long term capital, ensuring a balance between capital costs and lending interest rates, aiming for sustainability. The Government's policy is to expand consumer credit, helping people easily access legal capital, but interest rates must be reasonable and transparent.

“Lending must have a clear purpose and be supported by evidence. It is unacceptable to lend without controlling the purpose of capital use,” Mr. Hung said, adding that the risk of increasing the direct disbursement rate, especially for loans without collateral, is that fraud and wrong loan purposes may arise. Finance companies and Consumer Finance Clubs must strictly comply with legal regulations when developing or promulgating professional regulations, avoiding the situation of “self-understanding and self-guidance”.

Consumer credit will accelerate

Recently, the Prime Minister issued an official dispatch assigning ministries, branches and enterprises to coordinate in strongly implementing solutions to develop the domestic market in 2025, as well as providing credit packages to support production, business and consumption with favorable lending procedures and conditions.

This will create a favorable environment for consumer credit when employment and workers' income increase and people's purchasing power improves. Expansionary monetary and fiscal policies also continue to strongly support consumer loan demand...

FinGroup assessed that Vietnam's consumer finance market still has many development prospects when the scale of Vietnam's consumer credit has only reached over 10% of GDP - much lower than other countries and territories such as South Korea with over 40% of GDP, Hong Kong (China) with over 20%...

According to Mr. Nguyen Quang Huy, CEO of the Faculty of Finance and Banking, Nguyen Trai University, in the context of slow recovery of purchasing power, especially in the middle and low income groups, consumer credit needs to be expanded reasonably. This is not only an "instant stimulus" measure, but also has medium-term significance in maintaining the chain of wealth - consumption - production - investment circulation in the economy.

Consumer credit is the bridge connecting people's expectations for a better life and the economy's growth potential. If properly oriented, it will not only serve immediate spending, but also help stimulate domestic demand in a controlled manner, creating momentum for the manufacturing and retail sectors.

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