UrBC, Yekaterinburg, July 16, 2019. Starting July 12, all of the Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers will be able to apply for a credit card with the longest grace period currently available in Russia (up to 240 days), the bank’s press service reports.

According to the UBRD Marketing Director Alexei Merzlyakov, this is the first time a Russian bank has introduced such a long interest-free period on credit cards.

‘Two years ago, we proved the country’s first bank to introduce a 120-day grace period. The market is changing fast however, with something new happening every day, so quite a few banks are offering a grace period of more than three months these days. Yet what we’ve done now is definitely a total breakthrough: we invite everyone to use their credit card at will and not worry about the interest for as long as eight months. I’m confident this is going to become a benchmark product on the banking market, the one that sets new standards of financial solutions,’ Merzlyakov says.

According to Merzlyakov, credit cards have enormous potential on the Russian market, while the 240-grace-period credit card can actually result in global-scale transformations in the near future. A U.S. household has three to four credit cards on average, while a Russian one only has 1.5 cards. Credit cards’ popularity is definitely on the rise, with many cardholders coming to realize how truly handy they are.