Awareness ‘needs to increase’ over store cards

Consumers need to be made more aware of the terms under which they agree to take on credit offered by high street retailers, according to one expert.

Rory Taylor, a spokesperson for the Competition Commission, makes clear that a full understanding of store card lending details could help UK consumers avoid resulting debt management problems.

“You can sign up for direct debit agreements and make sure you don’t get any late payment fees, you can cancel insurance, those sorts of things,” Mr Taylor explained.

“We just want to make sure people know what they are entitled to do after they sign up for the store card and what will happen depending on whether they choose to pay off the minimum payment or pay it off in full,” he added.

Research by the Competition Commission showed that there was a full £2,500 million worth of debt owed on store cards by the UK’s 14 million card holders at the end of 2004.