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`Be wary` of store cards at the till

26/07/2007

With all of the various payment options available today, consumers may be able to make a radical difference to how much they end up spending - simply by choosing the right card.

An Alliance and Leicester study indicated that half of UK consumers sometimes chose to use store cards - which are offered by particular retailers instead of a traditional provider - while shopping because of convenience.

However, what they may not be aware of is the high interest rates charged by store cards; a report published by the Competition Commission last year ruled that APRs charged on such cards are, on average, ten to 20 per cent higher than a typical credit card.

Meanwhile, research from the Motley Fool states that one in three people are ignorant of how much interest their store card charges.

In addition to lower APRs, advantages of paying with a standard bank credit or debit card include the option of tracking transactions online.

And with figures from uSwitch stating 3.5 million Britons regularly pay only their minimum repayment on credit cards each month, the high interest rate of a store card could result in a much longer repayment term.

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