Household HSBC Watch

Thursday October 20, 2005 — The Guardian
The country’s biggest credit card companies are resisting demands by the Office of Fair Trading, the consumer watchdog, that they should cut default fees of up to £25 levied on customers who fail to pay their bills on time. Barclaycard, the country’s largest and oldest credit card company with nine million customers, and America’s MBNA are believed to be the most determined in their defence of the default charge, which City analysts believe could be worth as much as £1bn a year in income to the card companies.

MBNA refused to comment on its discussions with the UK Office of Fair Trading. Bank of America Corp. bought MBNA Corp. for $35 billion in June 2005. The cash-and-stock deal would make Bank of America, already the third-biggest bank in the United States, also the largest credit card issuer in the United States. The Guardian did not clarify whether MBNA was complaining to the OFT or if Bank of America was speaking for MBNA.

This report includes information from a report by Jill Treanor