If you have a large outstanding on your credit cards and are paying the usual high interest on the same, here is an opportunity to convert it from credit card loan to a lower interest bank loan on a long tenure. Many banks are offering lucrative schemes to card holders in order to pare down their credit card exposure following a sharp increase in bad assets linked to them. Almost all major banks, including ICICI Bank and Citibank, are offering similar schemes but don’t want to publicise them, which could increase the risk of more card users defaulting on regular obligations and opting for these easier settlement options. So, if you have an outstanding loan of around Rs 2 lakh and are paying an interest as high as 18%, 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%. The credit card base had dropped 21% 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% to Rs 5,660 crore at the end of October 2009, from 6,442 crore a year ago. According to a research report from Venture Infotek, all banks are pruning their credit card business. ICICI Bank alone has brought down the number of card holders from 9 million in 2008 to 7 million in 2009.