Just a quick warning for anyone who may be thinking of shopping for this year’s Christmas gifts at Argos – steer well clear of their “Easy Shop Card”, provided by Provident Financial.
The only thing easy about the card is the money that Argos will be making, as it charges an astonishing 222.7% APR. As an example, if you were to borrow £100 on the card, you’d pay a fee of £35, and you could repay it at £5 per week over 27 weeks, which gives you the 222% APR (the maths is a bit complicated, but trust us, it’s true).
You can borrow up to £300 on the card, which can only be spent at Argos – the money is collected on a weekly basis by door-to-door “agents”.Â
I’d warn anyone who’s considering using these cards to think seriously about whether it’s something you need to do – whilst Provident Financial argue that the short timeframe of repayment makes the APR look horrendous, it is still a very expensive way to borrow money.