UrBC, Yekaterinburg, November 24, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development (UBRD) recently launched a new credit card with a 120-day grace period. The demand for the new product proved twice as high as that for any other bank cards within the first forty-eight hours of the launch date, the bank’s press service reports.

‘The demand was so high because of the advantages the new credit card has to offer. The card was developed with all the latest trends in mind: the grace period applies to all types of transactions, and you get 1% in cash back options on everything,’ the press service says.

The credit card account costs RUR 1,500 a year to administer, but if you spend RUR 100,000 within one year of the date your consumer loan agreement was signed, you get your money back.

‘The demand for credit cards keeps rising: according to the National Credit History Bureau, the amount of newly issued credit cards soared by 32% in the nine months of 2017. As for the UBRD, we also issued twice as many cards this year as one year earlier, and the new credit card type made this particular service even more popular,’ says UBRD Lending Services Management Director Svetlana Davydova.

‘Our customers are now more interested in credit cards and, judging by their feedback, grace period is the main criterion they look at. As is clear from our data, 120 days seems the best option for both the bank and the customers. People say this is a less risky interest-free period, as they feel confident they will have enough time to handle possible financial problems. 300 applications got submitted within the first days of the launch, which is several times more than the number of applications for other credit cards.’