Credit (Card) Crunch

It's not every morning that Channel 5 call to ask if you're free to jump on a plane to London and talk on their evening bulletin feature on credit cards.

So, when they did just that yesterday morning, it was with a rather heavy heart that I had to politely decline their invitation. The fates were conspiring against me with a poorly partner (now at home), work waiting for me to appear at my desk and the fact that I’d probably have had to pay for the flights on my credit card.

While I’m delighted that the Government has finally decided to take a look at credit card companies and the way they operate, I’m slightly distressed that it’s taken a UK wide circulation of 63 million cards with a combined debt of 63 billion pounds to get their attention.

For millions of Britons it's a case of too little, too late.

I need to stress here that no-one forced me to take – then use – credit cards. In that respect, I am entirely responsible for my own actions (and stupidity) but perhaps if the regulations surrounding them had been a little stricter, I might have been prevented from piling it all on the plastic long before my debt reached a point where it was greater than my salary.