OFT to investigate credit card charges

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The consumer watchdog Which? has made a complaint to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) over the ways interest charges are applied to UK customers' credit card accounts. The OFT is now required to investigate the issue. Which? discovered that the 20 major credit card companies in the UK, which comprise 90% of the market, use 12 different ways of calculating interest charges. Which? says that as a result, the advertised APR of their cards is not a trustworthy figure. For example, the Sainsbury's Bank Mastercard and the HSBC Mastercard both advertised themselves as having a 15.9% APR, but the Sainsbury's card charged more in interest over the year. Which? says that the method of interest calculation should be standardised to allow customers to accurately compare accounts.