Credit card users 'still hit by late payment fees'
Published On 25 July 2007
Many credit card users in the UK are still adding to their debt levels by missing repayments and having to pay late fees, a new report suggests.Data gathered by price comparison website moneysupermarket.com found that 23 per cent of credit card holders in the UK missed a payment on their debt last year and had to stump up a penalty.
Despite the Office for Fair Trading (OFT) imposing a £12 cap on these fees, the cumulative bill still reached £230 million over the last 12 months.
However, just 12 per cent of credit card users would like to see these late payment fines scrapped in favour of set annual or monthly fees.
"The results suggest a big thumbs-down from consumers for annual or monthly fees," commented Rob Kenley, head of credit cards at the website.
"If providers were thinking about introducing them, they would have to offer cardholders much more than simply replacing penalty fees.
"Even longer zero per cent introductory offers or higher cashback offers spring to mind as a starting point."
Recent figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) indicate that credit card borrowing fell by £100 million in June in the UK.
