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Shoppers warned off store cards
17/11/2005 16:50:00
British consumers have been warned that store cards offer poor value for money by moneysupermarket.com.
The company said that despite moves to make store credit more attractive, it said that the cards provided by retail operators cannot compete with the larger credit card market.
Shoppers could be paying as much as £100 million more than they need to on interest and charges, whilst many credit cards are queuing up to offer zero per cent deals to attract business during the Christmas period.
Richard Mason, director of credit cards at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Store cards are attractive to consumers at point of sale as they usually offer a discount or introductory offer when you first take out the card."
He said that discounts, such as ten per cent off the first item bought, should be taken advantage of for big purchases but added that "it is very important to absolutely ensure you pay the full debt off within the first month of taking out the store card."
The company said that it "makes sense" to use zero per cent cards for Christmas shopping, especially as card providers are bound by law to recover payment if products are damaged or faulty.
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