Wednesday 29th August, 2007 

Which? Money have highlighted in their September issue the top ten cheap tricks that credit card companies get up to try and fleece more money out of you, plunging you deeper into debt.

Until 2006, the credit card companies were charging exorbitant penalty fees for late or missed payments some as much as £25. The Office of Fair Trading ordered that credit card providers could no longer charge such fees and demanded that they cut their penalty charges to a maximum of £12.

The providers not wanting to lose a valuable source of income have come up with other ways to recoup their lost income. John McFall, Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, called for the credit companies to be clear about their charges with customers. The Dunbartonshire West MP added that you had to be a mathematical genius to work out the complex charging structures now operated by credit card companies.

So here are the top ten cheap tricks to look out for;

1. Annual fees are, in some cases, creaming off £2 a month.
2. Charging a fee for those who rarely use their card.
3. Transferring a balance will now cost you typically between 2.5 and 3 per cent.
4. Lowering the minimum payment means that more interest will be earned by the provider.
5. Changing the order in which the payments are allocated, the cheapest debt getting paid off first.
6. Using different interest calculations - relying solely on the lowest APR will not give you the lowest interest rates.
7. This is a cheap trick! If you forget to tell the credit card provider that you have moved house they will sting you up to £12.
8. Using credit card cheque incurs an interest rate of around 25%,(no interest free period) in addition to a handling fee.
9. Cash withdrawals can attract higher rates of interest.
10. Treating the likes of buying a gift voucher as a cash withdrawal, and charging a higher rate of interest.