Credit card interest rates set to rise

Credit card experts have predicted that interest rates will continue to rise, with providers balancing the risks they are taking.

The Bank of England recently reported that write-off rates on credit card lending have now reached record highs, leading to spreads on unsecured lending sharply rising recently.

A spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk detailed some of the changes to expect in the credit card market over the coming years and identified who would be affected.

She said: Providers have been putting rates up and obviously there's high unemployment and the risk of people defaulting and not repaying their debts is still quite high, so they're very strict on who they give their cards to.

The customers that pay off just the minimum every month are going to be the ones who are hit hardest. They're going to add, maybe, hundreds of pounds extra on to their debt and take a lot longer to repay [it].

Meanwhile, research by moneysupermarket.com recently found that five million people in the UK admit to regularly using credit cards to pay their household bills.