28 September 2006
M&S Money has urged consumers to look beyond the headline rate offered by credit card companies and check the real cost of nought per cent interest deals.
Figures from the company have revealed that consumers who switch between credit cards in order to benefit from a nought per cent balance transfer (BT) could be worse off than if they kept their debt on their existing card.
Eddie Nott, M&S Money chief executive, said: "You would like to think that nothing could be cheaper than nought per cent interest, however the spread of credit card balance transfer fees has in some cases wiped out much of the benefit of switching.
"Fees of three per cent are already being charged, should these increase further then the vast majority of nought per cent balance transfer deals will become largely worthless.
"We urge consumers to look beyond the headline offers when comparing the cost of transferring their balances to low or nought per cent interest deals."
The research also found that the recent trend for credit cards to charge BT fees has meant the possibilities for rate tarts are reducing quickly.
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