Credit card fees once again come under fire

October 19, 2007

The fees which credit cards charge have constantly been under fire for the past year and things certainly show no sign of letting up now. The consumer group “WHICH?” is the latest to attack the fees which the cards charge, after credit card companies have raised their annual fees several times already within the last year.

The hassle has started since the Office of Fair Trading demanded credit card issuers to lower their fees down to £12. Credit card companies have since tried to make the money back up on various other fees and that is what “WHICH?” is questioning. It claims that these new fees are ingenious ways of getting back the money that they are losing and it simply isn’t fair on consumers.

The banks in particular have hit back at the claims made by “WHICH?”. They claim that any other fees were inevitable once the new lower £12 fee was introduced. They also claim that the fees are not unfair and they deny that consumers are being hard done by.

The newer fees which have been introduced include fees for withdrawing money, fees for using the card abroad and also shorter interest free time periods too. Some banks are even charging their customers for using their cards too little. So are these new fees ridiculous, or is too much being made of it? Surely the credit card issuers have to make their money back somehow? Well many people could argue that credit card issuers already get a large amount of profits from other fees that they charge so they do not need the extra money.

Overall this new accusation by the consumer group “WHICH?” is sure to set off another debate on banking charges. Credit cards are extremely popular but if these fees continue to rise, then banks and issuers could risk losing customers to their competitors.