Halifax credit card charges: bank is forcing interest rate rises on its customers

The bank has linked its charge to the Bank of England base rate

If you have a credit card with the Halifax you may have been sent a letter recently headed: "A new way to work out your credit card interest rate." In the way of these things, it looks like helpful information and, as there won't be any change to the cost of borrowing on the card, you'd be forgiven for filing it away.

But that could prove to be an expensive mistake. Why? Because the bank – part of the giant Lloyds group – has linked its charge to the Bank of England base rate. That means when the base rate rises – as it surely will after six years at the same 0.5 per cent level – the cost of credit to you will also rise, quite possibly without you realising, although the bank assures me it will write to people when that happens.

This slightly underhand way of forcing interest rate rises on customers was actually introduced in 2011, although borrowers are yet to be penalised as the base rate is yet to rise. My advice? Find another credit card with no sneaky increases ahead.

My thanks to Sara Williams of DebtCamel.co.uk for highlighting the move. Do let me know if you discover any similar tricks.