The Laura Ashley chain of fashion and furniture shops has been caught up in yet another unsolicited credit cards row after its storecard partner GE Capital sent out thousands of credit cards, and the PINs needed to use them, to the store’s customers without the prospective cardholder applying for them.
Thousands of Egg Card account holders will have to pay significantly higher rates after a review of customer risk levels was conducted by the company. With just a week’s notice, some customers will now have their APR ramped up from the current rate of 16.9% to a whopping 21.9%, which just about takes the egg card into the territory of a ‘bad credit’ credit card rather than a general purpose one.
Citigroup have quadrupled their UK customer base to 4m with the acquisition of online bank Egg, in a deal which saw them pay £575m to former owners Prudential.
Ever wondered how credit card companies make a profit off 0% balance transfer deals?
New research from financial comparison site moneysupermarket.com has estimated that nearly 1 in five would-be ‘rate tarts’ fail to move their balance to a new card before their introductory offer ends, and this failure costs a collective £1.7bn in interest each year.
Card issuer Capital One have been strongly criticised for sending out unsolicited credit card cheques to an undisclosed number of customers, with debt campaign group Money Advice Scotland saying they plan to raise the matter with the Banking Code Standards Board (BCSB).
UK credit card holders could soon be facing an extra £1bn a year in fees and charges according to a new report, as card issuers look to recoup revenue lost following rule changes to late payment charges.
Image-conscious credit card carriers may soon have a dramatic new look in their wallets after 3M announced the development of a totally transparent material that can be used to make credit cards.
The latest official figures from the UK payment clearing association Apacs show that credit card fraud has fallen by 5% compared to last year’s figures. Total fraud in the first six months of 2006 amounted to just under £210m, which represents a 17% drop over the same period in 2004.
The introduction of chip and pin technology has been credited with the improvement.
Holders of the MyTravel credit card have been warned that they have only a few months to redeem their reward points before February 5th 2007 or risk losing them when their accounts are transferred over to another card.
The marbles card from HFC Bank has changed its product offering, raising its introductory 0% balance transfer period from 9 months to 12 months, an increasingly common offer among credit cards including MBNA Platinum, Virgin, and HSBC.
The card still features a transfer fee of 2% of the balance transferred, minimum £5, and the standard rate has been raised a percentage point to 15.9%.
Marbles was one of the first purely-online credit cards, and has been left looking increasingly basic as newer cards introduce more attractive deals, and HFC believe that the changes will make the card more attractive in a market that is getting constantly more competitive.