Store cards should only really be used if you can pay off the balance in its entirety. Photograph: Sara Lee
Here's a challenge: go into a high street store this weekend and attempt to buy something without a salesperson trying to flog you a store card. If my experience on Saturday is anything to go by, you'll struggle to buy even a pair of socks without someone asking if you'd "like to save 10% today?"
In every store I visited shop assistants told me and my fellow shoppers about discounts, interest-fee periods and even "price protection" offers - which gave you money back if the item you bought was later reduced in the sale. But not once did I hear mention of interest rates, minimum payments, or any of the things that might determine how much your purchase would ultimately cost. The in-store posters were the same, advertising what you could save, but not the cost.
In one shop I heard someone ask if the store card was "like a credit card", and if taking one out meant she wouldn't be able to pay with cash that day - a pretty good indication that she hadn't really understood what she was being sold. But the assistant ploughed on, acknowledging it was "like a credit card", before swiftly returning to the virtues of a 56-day interest-free period. She clearly wasn't bothered by the customer's doubts about taking credit.
I don't really expect to be asked: "Would you like to pay 29% APR on your purchases today?", but there are certain facts shop assistants should be obliged to tell us sooner rather than later. Instead, from what I've seen they stick to the good news and before you know it they're on the phone and adding another footprint to a credit record you may be desperate to keep clean.
There may be times when a store card discount is attractive and, if you're convinced you can pay the money off without it incurring interest, it may be worth applying. But for many it's surely just an incentive to take on a debt that prior to reaching the checkout they never thought they needed. Surely it's time shops were banned from selling credit in this way - particularly at a time of year when there are already so many temptations to spend money we don't have.
Do you agree? Do you think shops are the wrong places to buy credit, or is it a case of buyer beware?
