Sir, - At this time of questioning the activities of our financial institutions and the charges they impose, it is appropriate to have a long, hard look at the interest rates applied in credit card transactions.
As everyone knows interest rates are tumbling and are now in low single figures. By year end they are likely to be even lower. All of this, however, seems to have bypassed the credit card companies who are still charging, on average, well over 20 per cent APR on outstanding balances.
The response to my recent enquiry as to why this should be so was that it counterbalances the fact that no interest is payable when the full outstanding debt is cleared. Whether or not this is a valid reason, it is still hard to rationalise the huge premiums people must pay to use a credit card.
In the context of the recent revelations it is important that this issue be put under the spotlight with all the other instances of scam and gombeenism. It would not be too surprising if, yet again, the trusting Irish public were found to be the victims of unbridled sharp practice by what were once (but no longer) regarded as some of the most respected institutions in the land. - Yours, etc., Des Fitzpatrick,
Wendell Avenue, Portmarnock, Co Dublin.