The banks have started sending out letters. The first batch warned that credit card customers would have to pay more each month and in some cases that their credit limits were being reduced. Breach those and penalties have to be paid. Interest rates also average 24% even though bank base rates are still at 0.1%.
Meanwhile latest letters warn that agreed overdrafts are to be reduced often by £1,000 or more.
All this before the Bank of England has decided whether inflation currently 4.2% CPI and 6% RPI will be tamed by interest rate rises.
Having already withdrawn the cheapest fixed rate mortgages banks are getting ready to make even more money out of customers struggling with energy and fuel costs, rising food prices and council tax rises on the horizon.
Retail sales in the High Street are almost back to pre-pandemic levels. Perhaps they shouldn’t be as credit card spending and debt is rising. It looks like we are celebrating the end of the pandemic early and have learned little.
Just as we need to conserve heat in our homes we should conserve our money. The energy tariff cap is predicted to increase another £500 in April as the council tax bills need paying.
