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Credit card rates for existing customers 'should be supervised'

Credit card rates should be monitored to ensure the fairest deals for existing customers, according to a senior researcher at Which?.

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9 June 2009

Credit card rates for existing customers 'should be supervised'”

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Martyn Saville suggested that although there are guidelines in place for what credit card providers must offer, there is not sufficient monitoring of rates.

According to Mr Saville, if credit card companies advertise savings as high as 9.9 %, they must offer that rate to two thirds of successful applicants.

However, there is no regulation for the treatment of existing customers, he said.

Mr Saville said he thought credit card companies may think they can increase rates for existing customers because "they know that there aren't as many options in terms of other places to borrow at the moment, because the credit market is quite tight".

The Which? researcher's comments come as Moneyfacts.co.uk released a study showing that the average credit card purchase rate is continuing to increase. According to the new data, the rate is currently 18.1%, up from 16.3% two years ago.

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Credit Cards	0% Balance Transfers	0% Purchases	APR Representative (Variable)
	Tesco ClubCard Credit Card
	9 months	15 months	16.9^%
16.9% APR representative (variable). Based on a credit limit of 1200 and purchase rate 16.9% p.a(variable).
	Virgin Credit Card
	20 months	3 months	16.8^%
16.8% APR representative (variable). Based on a credit limit of 1200 and purchase rate 16.8% p.a(variable).
	Barclaycard Platinum with BT
	22 months	3 months	17.5^%
17.5% APR representative (variable). Based on a credit limit of 1200 and purchase rate 17.5% p.a(variable).
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