Warning for women over store cards

Christmas is fast approaching and many High Street retailers will have geared up to try and get women to take out store cards when they go into the shop to buy an outfit for the festive season. Many women every year take out store cards, as shop sales staff make them sound enticing by offering customers money off their purchase right away.

Many of the popular High Street retailers have a big push on store cards at this time of the year, but these cards come with very high rates of interest, with some charging almost 30 percent interest. This means that a debt as small as £500 could take over a decade to repay if the cardholder only pays the minimum repayment each month, as the bulk of the repayment will be swallowed up in interest.

Store cards are said to be one of the most expensive forms of borrowing, but despite this there are around 12.9 million of them in circulation, with around £2.2 billion spent on them. The number of single women struggling to repay store card debt is three times higher than the number of single men, and women are now being urged to think twice before taking out and spending on a store card this year.

An official from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau said: ‘There is a problem with the way store cards are sold. Targeting young women at the till means customers are usually more focused on the discount for their purchase than the terms and conditions of the credit.’

Another finance industry official added: ‘Customers who repay only the minimum amount on store cards could end up paying twice the price and still be repaying the debt in a decade’s time. Do not touch store cards unless you can afford to pay off the balance in full every month.’

Tags: way, repayment, expensive forms, single men, finance industry official, advice, sales, Debit card