February 2, 2006

The consumer body Which? has today slammed credit card companies for not doing enough to ensure their credit card terms are clear and easy to understand.

Their survey found that even though a credit card could have a low APR a consumer could find that it costs them more than a credit card with a higher APR.

It is found that have different terms as to how long a credit card company will give a consumer to pay back purchases interest free. An industry average is 56 days. This amount of time is from the point a consumer makes a purchase to when interest is then added to the persons credit card balance.

Alarmingly the Cahoot credit card at 11.8% APR was found to be more expensive than the HSBC credit card at 13.9% APR.

Consumers should not just look at the standard APR of a credit card when making a decision, they should also look at the interest free period and find out exactly when interest is charged to their account.

Another point that is not universally known is that when interest is finally charged, it is charged from the point the purchase is made, not after the interest free period.

When choosing a credit card you must take into account your own finances as every credit card is different.