Card companies should provide examples, says debt expert

Banks and card companies should give customers examples of what they are paying on their credit card bills, according to a representative of one debt counselling service.

James Falla, director of Thomas Charles, supported the idea of market regulators asking companies to "clearly print" the examples for card holders to avoid confusion on items such as interest rates.

Mr Falla explained: "Particularly with cards that do have high interest rates, they should be illustrating what a person is going to be paying back if they only make a minimum payment.

"That would then show us that with some of these cards, if you just make the minimum payment, it’s going to take you ten years plus to repay the amount, and you’re going to be."

He concluded: "The card providers should spend more time illustrating the amount that people are going to pay back."

Figures from Credit Action show that the total of personal debt in the UK increased by £122 million in the 12 moths up to October 2007.