Credit card cheques costly

A uSwitch poll found that nearly two thirds of respondents did not realise there were typical charges of £17 involved in using credit card cheques and that they could incur extra interest.

“There is a danger that many of the people who these cheques are targeted at will already be at risk of falling into over-indebtedness, and the convenience of these cheques, coupled with the manner in which they are marketed by the credit card companies who issue them, could push them over the edge,” warned Nick White, head of personal finance at the price comparison website.

Credit card providers last year sent out 18 million of the cheques unsolicited and uSwitch claimed that people are not given sufficient information on the charges involved in using them.

Other drawbacks of using them include higher interest rates, one-off charges and the absence of an interest-free period.

Mr White called on better regulation and for tobacco-style “wealth warnings” to help stop people unwittingly taking on more debt.