Household HSBC Watch

The OFT said its provisional view was that charges of 20 pounds to 25 pounds for late payment or exceeding a credit limit were excessive. The OFT said Britain’s credit card companies had stated that default provisions were fair. The regulator has given the companies, which include Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, three months to respond and said it had the power to enforce consumer interests through the courts. “The levels of the default charges imposed by the credit card companies need to be reduced in order to be fair,” the OFT said in the statement. At the request of a parliamentary committee, the OFT has stiffened rules on credit card advertising and is probing store credit cards for lack of competition. For more on excessive late charges and abuse of late charges see the HSBC Watch Forums.