Credit card 'trick' could save consumers money
Published On 17 July 2007
By simply taking advantage of available credit card deals and carefully managing spending and repayments, UK consumers could save £8.5 billion a year, new research suggests.Consumer website moneysupermarket.com points out that nine out of the 50 major credit card providers currently offer zero per cent deals on purchase for periods between nine and 12 months.
By taking advantage of these offers, consumers could make significant savings, the site explained.
According to the website, consumers could spend £1,930 a month for three months on a new zero per cent credit card and invest a matching amount in a six per cent plus saving account.
The result, providing customers pay of monthly credit card minimums and clear all debt before the end of the offer period, would be £270 of interest every year.
Rob Kenley, head of credit cards at moneysupermarket.com, explained: "Using a credit card with a zero per cent purchase offer and investing the equivalent amount of money in a savings or current account is an extreme case of banks paying us for our business.
"This works on a similar principle to offset mortgages and for the two-thirds of people who are able clear their balance every month this represents a perfectly viable way of managing their finances."
However, recent figures from the British Bankers' Association showed that net spending on credit cards in the UK decreased by 0.4 billion in May.
