15 April 2008
Service providers have been urged to be more transparent when dealing with consumers and to tell them the level of interest they are paying on credit cards.
Nationwide has predicted that credit card holders may have paid out £500 in interest charges in the year after new regulations were revealed.
Last year, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform stated that banks will have to reveal on statements the exact order of repayments - but this will not become mandatory until October.
Divisional Director at Nationwide Jeremy Wood urged organisations to act quickly and inform their customers immediately of the money levels they are being subjected to.
"Most providers apply payments to the cheapest debt first making it more expensive for the consumer and more profitable for them. What seems like a good deal at first can become unnecessarily costly for cardholders unless they clear their balance in full," he commented.
The Office of Fair Trading has previously said that credit card customers are paying out £300 million after late repayments.
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