Credit card charges to rise

Credit card companies look set to put a squeeze on their customers. Annual fees, higher charges and measures to root out people who 'tart around' in pursuit of 0% deals are all on the cards, says a report by leading financial consultants.

PricewaterhouseCoopers says rising bad debt and a clamp on penalty charges by the Office of Fair Trading have undermined profits. And it predicts that card issuers will seek ways to recover £1bn a year.

The report's authors say the average revenue earned per card has halved over the past five years. One reason is the rise of the so-called rate tart – customers who constantly switch debt from one cheap deal to another.

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