19 February 2008
Consumers risk confusion when they juggle too many credit cards, the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) warned yesterday.
The comparatively favourable credit conditions in the UK have also contributed to cards becoming more popular here than elsewhere.
Research from Datamonitor, released last week, showed that Britons held more credit cards than anywhere else in Europe.
The UK's average of 1.4 credit cards beat out second-place Norway twice over, the report claimed.
CCCS spokesman James Ketchell commented: "In the UK we have a far more liberal approach to credit in many other European countries - the market has been liberalised since the early 1990s and really the credit card companies have been doing a lot of work, we've got a very competitive credit card market."
He added: "There are plenty of reasons why people may have numerous cards - people might have one for work, for example, or you could have one which has got a transfer balance on it with a low interest rate, and then another one for purchases and that kind of thing…it can become confusing."