This will be among a series of measures to be adopted when the Consumer Debt Clearance Act, already ratified by the Legislative Yuan, takes effect on April 11 next year after a nine-month buffer and publicity period.

The debt clearance regulations are designed to help the estimated 500,000 consumers plagued by overdue loans and exorbitant interest rates -- mostly from credit-card and cash-card debts -- to be able to stand on their feet financially again.

Hundreds of "card slaves" and their family members had chosen to commit suicide after pressured by banks and violent debt collectors hired by the banks in the past seven years.

A great ratio of the "card slaves" were talked into or duped into applying for credit cards and loans from banks that hired large armies of salespeople and bombarded Taiwan consumers with commercials day and night.

The results included mounting defaults in repayment from cardholders and heavy losses of many banks.

Taiwan bankers now want to take the belated action of "educating" debtors to prevent them from holding misconceptions like they will no longer have to repay the loans under the newly ratified debt clearance rules.

The new laws allow people with overdue loans to choose between applying for bankruptcy or holding negotiations with banks on how to repay their loans.

Debtors choosing the new repayment plan may seek to reduce the loans, lower interest rates and demand a maximum grace period of six to eight years.

Authorized to draw up enforcement rules to the debt clearance bill, the Judicial Yuan has been soliciting opinions from local bankers and officials at the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC).

The Taipei Bankers Association is set to provide suggestions from the financial community by the end of this month.

The bankers revealed they plan to educate the debtors to honor their promise and financial commitment by cutting out extravaganzas from daily life.

To secure repayment, the banks plan to limit debtors' spending -- after paying for daily necessities -- to NT$5,000 per month with no single expense exceeding NT$500 so that they will have money to repay the banks.

The debtors under "financial rehabilitation" will not be allowed to purchase real estate properties, make investments in stocks or mutual funds or take luxury transport means like deluxe trains and the Taiwan High-Speed Rail system.

The bankers stressed that these are not designed to punish the debtors but to "teach and educate" them.

The debtors will still be allowed to spend over the limit for special occasions, including weddings for sons or daughters.

But the debtors will have to first get the nod from their "financial rehab supervisors," according to the enforcement rules proposed by the bankers association.

A banker said Hong Kong has similar regulations that set the limit on the single expense of debtors at HK$100, about NT$500 for the ceiling proposed in Taiwan.