The Competition Commission has been "outsmarted" by store credit card providers, one expert has claimed.
According to Ed Bowsher, savings expert at Fool.co.uk, some store cards continue to charge 50 per cent more interest than ordinary credit cards, despite a ruling by the commission.
Last year the body introduced new rules to govern card charging annual percentage rates of more than 25 per cent, but many store credit cards have dropped their rates so they are just below this threshold, while some have increased them to be just under it, Mr Bowsher explained.
He said: "Store cards are the devil in disguise. They initially offer attractive benefits and bonuses, which can be hard to resist - but there is a downside to grabbing these discounts and deals."
Mr Bowsher suggested that people with expensive cards should look to transfer the balance to a credit card which offers a zero per cent balance transfer deal.
Yesterday, Steve Wiley, head of credit cards at moneysupermarket.com, claimed that the credit card market still offers consumers competitive deals.
News Side
Warning over expensive store credit cards
Tue, 17 Jun 2008
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