Government should act tough on credit cards

New government legislation on credit card debt does not go nearly far enough, the director of a financial management charity has claimed.

Chris Tapp, director of Credit Action, said new laws that stop credit card providers increasing interest rates and limits on credit cards are merely “a baby step in the right direction”.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the new laws will “put an end to irresponsible lending practices”.

However, according to Tapp, the government could have done much more to protect consumers from being exploited by credit card companies.

“We’d like to have seen more being done to encourage people to pay more by raising the level of minimum payments or at least by putting the indicative scales on statements,” he said.

“This would allow people to see how much quicker they’d have been able to pay off their debts if they had been paying ten per cent of the balance or fifty per cent of the balance; rather than the one or two per cent as the minimum payment currently stands.”