Borrowers are being warned to beware of credit card charges, with banks and building societies facing continued criticism for their approach. Last year the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) dealt with over 18,000 cases involving credit cards. In the dying days of the last government, Gordon Brown announced a voluntary agreement with credit card companies. This was meant to rule out such practices as prioritising low-interest debt for repayment when cutomers clear part of their debt.

But, say finance experts, there has been limited progress so far, with some suggesting action is being postponed until the deadline at the end of the year.

One particularly tricky area for borrowers is missing payments, with some lenders swiftly imposing heavy fees amd cancelling cheap introductory offers. Worse, missing a payment could mark your credit record and make it harder to obtain a mortgage.

Borrowers are advised to ensure they pay on time – setting up a direct debit, if only for the minimum, is one way to avoid the dire results of a late payment. It’s also vital to keep a close eye on your credit limit. With mortgage interest rates at historically low levels, it could also be cost effective, and simpler, to consolidate credit and other card debts by means of the loan secured against your property. And if you’ve minor blemishes on your credit record, don’t despair. Lenders are again showing some signs of flexibility. An experienced broker such as GoRemortgage will have an overview of the requirements of different lenders, and inform you of your remortgage options.

Tags: Economy, Housing Market, Industry, Markets

This entry was posted on Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 9:20 am and is filed under Money Saving Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.