30 years in debt for credit card customers

Millions of credit card customers are set to spend the next 30 years in debt because they only make the minimum payments each month.

And not only will just paying the minimum see you paying off your card debt for decades, it also adds thousands of pounds to the cost of borrowing, figures from uSwitch.com reveal.

"Consumers could now finish repaying their mortgage before their credit card, despite the huge disparity in sums borrowed," said Mike Naylor, personal finance expert at uSwitch.

"Despite the introduction of 'health warnings' on credit card statements, the implications of making the minimum repayment each month are still not clear enough to consumers.

"There is little justification for setting minimum repayments at just two per cent and we believe that it is time that the industry agreed a standard minimum repayment amount of at least three per cent on all credit cards."

Barclaycard and M&S Money have cut the minimum monthly repayment on their credit cards in recent weeks. They are now among the 60 credit card providers with a minimum level of less than three per cent, including Bank of Scotland, Egg, and Co-op.

Repaying three per cent each month instead of two per cent on the average UK credit card balance of £1,812 reduced the amount of time it takes to pay this balance off from 29 years and two months to 15 years and one month.

It also cuts the total amount of interest paid from £2,857 to £1,256.

"We urge all credit cardholders who pay the minimum off their credit card bill each month to think about the amount of interest they'll end up paying as a result," Mr Naylor said.

"Not only will paying slightly more each month see the debt paid off much more quickly but it will also result in much less interest too."