SubscribeIt’s a very dirty card to play, but the big companies know that with the state of the economy at the moment many British families will be funding some, if not most if their holiday with a credit card.
Brits are expected to spend ?2billion on credit cards during this summer. With 13.8million customers regularly failing to pay off their balances each month, the rate increases will bring a cash bonanza for the card companies.
Not only have credit cards increased the APR but there are extra charges for using your credit and debit cards abroad along with withdrawing cash from an ATM.
Despite the fact that the Bank of England has dropped the base rate to 5%, some credit cards have hiked the APR to a staggering 34.9%. That’s effectively double the original amount some customers were expecting to pay. Customers with outstanding balances may well find this unmanageable.
With APR’s not being shown on statements, just the monthly rate which can be confusing in its self, customers may not be unaware of the amount they are now being charged.
Research by the UK’s largest online comparison site, shows that 31 per cent of cardholders have had their APR raised in the past year. Egg, Capital One, Lloyds-TSB and Barclaycard have all raised rates.
The biggest shock will come to those coming off an introductory 0% deal and expecting to pay 15.9% you may now find that you will actually be paying an outrages 27.9%
My advice when wanting to find out what credit cards are available, do your homework. Use comparison sites to see what is on offer and to weigh up whether 0% credit cards, interest free credit cards, cash back cards or others are best for you.
Ann-Marie_Price
Last 10 posts in Credit
- 4 Ways to Effectively Manage Small Business Credit - January 11th, 2009
- Cash Reward Credit Cards - January 11th, 2009
- Best Rewards Credit Cards - Finding Them - January 11th, 2009
- Making the Most Out of Your Credit Cards - January 11th, 2009
- Satan Has a 350 Credit Score - January 11th, 2009
- Five Ways the Credit Card Companies Are Changing Business Practices - January 11th, 2009
- Credit Score Range - Get the Facts - January 11th, 2009
- Easy Way to Improve Your Credit Score - January 11th, 2009
- How to Dispute Negative Items on Your Credit Report - January 11th, 2009
- Danger Signs of Bad Credit Repair Companies - January 11th, 2009
Related posts
Tags: cards, credit card companies, credit cards
What Say You?