uSwitch: Millions of credit card holders could take up to 31 years to repay debt

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uSwitch: Millions of credit card holders could take up to 31 years to repay debt

Thu 4th Sep 2008

As many as 3.4 million credit card customers could take up to 31 years to pay off their balances thanks to rocketing spending and decreased minimum repayments, it has been claimed.

New research by uSwitch.com found that the average minimum repayment has decreased from 2.65 per cent to 2.54 per cent over the past year

This would cost consumers £437 million extra in interest and extending the repayment term by a year.

Consumers who make the minimum monthly payment of two per cent on a £1,288 holiday would be increasing the cost to £3,893, not repaying it until August 2039.

In other credit card news, Barclaycard has committed to issue at least one million contactless cards to British consumers before the end of the eyar.

The bank launched contactless payments in September last year and has more than 6,000 live terminals across the UK for accepting contactless payment.

Barclays expects contactless payments to increase in popularity over the next year.

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