Overdrawing reveals gap in bank practices

With a lack of information-sharing between banks and no mechanism for identifying individuals who fail to repay their credit cards, overdrawing has seen a sharp rise in Shanghai in recent years.

Of the 1,754 financial crime cases processed by the city's courts last year, 91 percent involved unpaid credit cards - a year-on-year rise of nearly 28 percent, according to the Shanghai High People's Court.

Overdrawing is a crime in which a cardholder was aware, or should have been aware, that he or she would be unable to repay money advanced on the card, yet makes purchases anyway.