Why the City Watchdog is concerned with the credit card industry

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Credit card companies are in the dock. They're accused of aggressive marketing and pushing punters into debt problems.

The City Watchdog has published a number of concerns and given the card industry until the beginning of January to respond.

The worries are that terms and conditions are hard to understand, switching cards is difficult, and offers are misleading and designed to keep people in debt.

Take 0 per cent deals. You can now get almost three years during which you need pay no interest on your balance. If you think that sounds great, you need to think again.

It’s a trick to keep you in debt. You pay at the start when you’re charged for transferring your balance to the card. And you pay at the end when you’re switched to a high interest charge when the 0 per cent deal is over.

My advice? Rip-up your credit card to take away the temptation.

If you have an outstanding balance that you can’t afford to pay off at the end of the month, set up a standing order to transfer as much as you can to the card each month so that the debt starts to reduce.