Late credit card payment costing consumers millions

According to recently released data late credit card payment are collectively costing consumers in the UK millions of pounds each year, as late payers are hit with charges from their credit card companies. The figures indicate that credit card holders in Britain are spending around £150 million a year because of late payment charges.

The research was carried out by the comparison website confused.com, which released its findings based on the research recently. The data shows that over 33 million credit cards have been hit with late payment fees of £12 in the last twelve months, which collectively equates to £150 million in late payment fees.

Two thousand cardholders were polled as part of the research, and out of these 25 percent said that they had been hit with a late payment charge in the past year. Another 8.5 percent said that they had been hit with several late payment charges in the same period. The research also revealed that 57.5 percent of cardholders had not set up a direct debit to ensure that their credit card repayments were made on time.

Officials have said that the fees associated with late payments on credit cards can quickly mount up, with credit card companies charging around £12 per late payment. A spokesperson for Confused.com, Alex Higgs, said that in the current financial climate the millions of pounds being wasted on late payments fees could be better used elsewhere.

Mr Higgs said: “Collectively we are wasting millions of pounds each year on charges, money which would be better spent elsewhere in these tough financial times.” He added: “Many credit card holders who miss minimum payments are likely to lose out on attractive introductory deals or low interest rate offers, meaning more money is wasted as they are reverted onto higher rate deals.”