Store card customers to be penalised for being in credit

These days more and more people are wary of spending too much on credit, and this is why so many people have decided to cut back on spending on their credit and debit cards, which is a sensible decision given the mounting levels of personal debt in the UK.

However, despite the financial climate some credit card providers are still penalising customers who fail to make transaction on their cards by charging them annual fees for not using their plastic.

Already a number of credit card providers have started penalising customers in this way, and it has now been revealed that many store card customers will get the same treatment in that they will charged if they have credit on their store cards for more than three months.

The decision has been made by the Spanish bank Santander, which is responsible for many of the UK’s major store cards such as Debenhams, Dorothy Perkins, House of Fraser, and Mothercare.

Customers that use their store cards and then make returns on the items that they purchased end up with credits on their cards, which they can then use to make another purchase in the future.

However, from now on they will have to act quickly in order to get rid of the credit, as they will be charged if they fail to use in within three months. If customers keep credit on their accounts for more than three months they will be charged £10 for the privilege.

Customers are now being urged to bear these new charges in mind when using store cards and accruing credit, and some have suggested that they may wish to switch to a credit card to try and avoid these fees. One official said: “If you have debts on a store card, transfer them to a 0% credit card instead.”