Credit card customers repaying the minimum amount each month on their credit card could be lumbered with 31 years of debt, according to new research.
Figures from uSwitch.com's Minimum Repayment Index shows 3.4 million consumers pay the two per cent monthly minimum on their credit card and will end up spending £9.6 billion on interest – an average of almost £3,000 per person.
The average debt on shoppers' credit cards is £1,348, according to the price comparison site.
Head of personal finance at the website Simeon Linstead said: "Those that opt to manage their credit card debt in this way could end up paying far more than they need to."
"We urge the credit card industry to set all minimum repayments at three per cent," he added.
Research by Apacs, the UK's payment association, spending on credit cards in the second quarter of 2008 hit £92.6 billion, 7.5 per cent more when compared with figures from April to June last year.
