On behalf of the credit card industry, APACS today welcomes the OFT’s report on improvements that can be made to help consumers compare credit cards.  The industry is committed to working with the OFT and the FSA to deliver the full package of recommendations including the impartial comparison website.  APACS believes this new website – to be developed and hosted by the FSA – will be an important additional tool in a customer’s arsenal to enable them to make informed choices about the card that best suits their need.

Sandra Quinn, APACS Director of Communications said:

"We are backing the OFT in hoping that these proposals will spur customers on to make better decisions by building upon the work already undertaken by the industry to make credit card products more transparent, including the development of the Choosing and Using website (www.choosingandusing.com) and the introduction of the summary box on all credit card marketing materials and statements.”

The industry will be working with the FSA to develop the website and to ensure that it has as complete market coverage as possible in terms of available credit card products. 

ENDS

For further information contact:

T: 020 7711 6234   E: press@apacs.org.uk

APACS is the trade body that gives banks, building societies and card issuers a forum where they can work together on non-competitive issues. In a nutshell we help manage the way that businesses and individuals in the UK move their money around - this covers cash, credit and debit cards, cheques and automated payments such as direct debits, salary payments and online/phone transactions. We champion the fight against banking fraud and twice a year we publish figures on payment industry fraud losses.

Steps by the industry in the past four years to improve transparency and responsibility in the credit card sector and which are now either standard industry practice or enshrined in the Banking Code include (shown in chronological order):

• Estimated interest amount shown on statements assuming only the minimum repayment is made by the due date.      
• Improved detail on foreign exchange transactions        
• Information on the impending expiry of any promotional interest rates      
• Summary Box on all credit card marketing materials             
• Guidelines on the marketing of credit card cheques and the information that should be provided with them
• Guidelines on the application of increases to credit limits     
• Health warning on all credit card statements advising against the making of minimum repayments on a regular basis    
• Improved version of the Summary Box following research with consumers         
• Commitment to the sharing of full data on all credit card accounts to the extent allowed by law   
• Improved LINK requirements on the transparency of charges at ATMs 
• Choosingandusing.com website giving impartial advice on credit cards and how interest is calculated
• Version of the Summary Box on all credit card statements          
• Guidelines on direct sales of credit cards in shopping malls, airports, football grounds etc          
• Version of Summary Box for credit card cheques