Shopping Around Gets Better Deals On Credit Cards

Consumers have been advised to shop around for credit cards by one financial expert, who says that doing so could bring about significant financial rewards.

An advice website has made the claim, explaining that there is a lack of trust in the financial markets which is encouraging consumers to stick with what they know rather than shop around.

A representative of the website believes this is a mistake and blames the banks for failing to provide quality products to consumers, particularly during the recession.

The financial expert's comment follow recent research, which found that while only ten per cent of consumers would actually change banks, half of those surveyed felt they did not trust their current bank.

The firm's consumer survey also revealed 61 per cent of consumers have lost faith in the banking system because of a specific incident that has affected someone they know.

However 43 per cent say their trust has been impacted by the media, which has reported extensively on the credit crunch and subsequent recession.
"The financial crisis has to some extent meant that banks aren't offering such good service and people are right to trust them less because at the moment they are taking this opportunity to charge rates that are far, far higher than the Bank of England base rate," the representative explained.

The average credit card rate is 17.9 per cent so the banks are ripping us off and they don't deserve our trust as a result.

It is possible that the decision of non banking companies entering the banking market may make the big names raise their game. Of particular interest, it seems, is Tesco.

This is a particularly good time for the supermarket because not only have the large banks' reputations been damaged, their balance sheets have been weakened which will make it harder for them to provide competitive products.

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