Credit card companies face grilling over rates

The chief executives of the country's leading banks and lenders are to be questioned on the state of credit card lending.

12:38 26 October 2004

The chief executives of the country's leading banks and lenders are to be questioned on the state of credit card lending.

The Treasury Select Committee will quiz chief executives from Barclays, RBS, HSBC and MBNA, having already come down heavily on their colleagues from Capital One, Lloyds TSB and HBOS the previous week.

Among the committee's main concerns are the increasing level of debt as well as an apparent failure within the industry to implement the government's recommendations on transparency and fairness.

Responding to criticism over the death of a customer, the BBC quoted HBOS chief executive James Crosby as commenting on his bank's behaviour in continuing to demand debt repayments: "It is far from what we would expect ... we will look at our performance in the wider area."

The key areas of reform expected by the government is greater clarity on charges and interest rates, with "summary boxes" enabling easy comparison with other company's cards on any promotional material.

MPs also hope to see some sort of "health warning" about the dangers of excessive debts.