Brits waste £150m on credit card fees

Every year British consumers waste £150 million on late payment credit card charges, Confused.com has revealed.
Research by the price comparison site found one in four (26%) credit card holders have been charged at least once in the last 12 months for missing a late payment.
Nearly one in 11 (8.5%) have been charged three or more times in the same period.
At an average of £12, late payment charges can quickly stack up.
Meanwhile, over half (57%) of credit card holders do not have a direct debit set up to pay off the minimum amount. Confused.com encouraged credit card holders to rectify this.
“Collectively we’re wasting millions of pounds each year on these charges, money which would be better spent elsewhere in these tough financial times,” said Alex Higgs, spokesperson for the price comparison site.
“Setting up a direct debit to make a minimum payment on a credit card is such a simple thing to do, yet well over half of credit card holders haven’t done it,” he added.
“We would encourage anyone without a direct debit set up to get one in place.
“Not only will this save money on charges and help contribute to a healthy credit profile, it will allow money that would have been spent on charges to be used to repay more than the minimum amount, saving more money as interest charges are reduced.”