Card Trick; How the charges can add up.

Byline: KEVAN REILLY

EVERYONE knows that banks coin it in by charging up to 20 per cent interest on our credit card debts.

But many lenders are also playing other card tricks which could cost you up to pounds 90 a month in extra charges.

Be just a day late with your monthly payment or ask for a copy of your statement and their charges can mount.

And if you're with the highest-charging firms that can add up to pounds 90 in a month - enough to wipe out any savings you made by switching to a "cheaper" deal.

Experts reckon the new summary boxes - so-called "honesty boxes" - outlining charges and rates should make it easier for customers to shop around.

But you still need to be careful and look at the small print before going for what looks like a good deal.

As our table shows, the worst culprit at the moment is Marbles, which currently offers a zero per cent deal, rising to 14.9 per cent after six months.

That looks pretty good but only if you don't fall foul of the charges. Others in the dock include American Express and Furness And National Counties building societies, according to figures from uSwitch.com

Firms sting you for a range of charges including late payment, exceeding your limit, not paying for a direct debit or asking for copies of statements.

But Liverpool Victoria, Tesco, Nationwide and HSBC only ask for between pounds 30 and pounds 45 if you were to incur all the charges. They don't charge for copies of statements or vouchers and limit late payment penalties to pounds 10 instead of pounds 25 at other firms.

International network planner Derek Sheena, 34, who lives with wife Claudia and their two children in London, is careful with his cards. But he was nearly stung for a statement copy by American Express and only got away with it after arguing with the finance giant. He says: "I use

credit cards for everything and so does my wife. It's unlikely we'd be charged for late payments as I manage them all online.

"I also always pay them off, but American Express did want to charge for a statement. They changed their minds when I asked them to send a photocopy rather than an original."

His cards include Liverpool Victoria because it doesn't charge extra if you use it in Europe as most cards do.

He has a Nationwide card because it doesn't charge extra outside Europe, plus American Express and Alliance & Leicester cards because they offer cashback. And any debts on them are transferred on to a zero per cent Halifax card.

The Office of Fair Trading is changing the law to make card firms outline their charges clearly and many are already doing it voluntarily.

Paul Schofield of uSwitch says: "Often consumers only become aware of supplementary charges after they've been penalised. People tend to concern themselves with top-line numbers only when it comes to choosing their credit card, such as a zero per cent offer."

To find out who is charging what, take a look at the table on the right.

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ALERT: Derek