Credit card market lacks competition
January 31, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Credit-Cards
There is a lack of competition in the debit and credit card market, meaning consumers are getting a bad deal.
That is according to a new report published by the European Commission (EC) and it backs claims previously made by the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
For some time now, the BRC has been arguing that there is a lack of competition and that fees charged for transactions are an unjustifiable tax.
The BRC has revealed that the fees we pay are fuelling excess bank profits and figures from the EC report show that credit card issuers are making profits of 40 per cent.
Calls are now coming for the Office of Fair Trading to recognise the findings of the EC report in its current case against Mastercard and Visa’s fee arrangements.
“This report is a welcome indication that the commission agrees with us that banks are abusing their position,” said Kevin Hawkins from the BRC.
“The report sends a clear signal to member states, including the UK, that consumers and retailers have been bearing the costs of that abuse.
“We’ve long argued that high charges are an unjustifiable tax on consumers leading to excessive profits for the banks,” he added.
Customers looking to get a credit card should shop around and try to find the best deal to suit their personal needs.
