Debt campaigners have condemned Barclaycard after it announced that it has doubled the amount of credit on offer on its student card.
The Student Barclaycard will now offer students an immediate £600, twice last year’s £300 limit, charging 14.9 per cent on purchases and cash withdrawals.
Consumer groups said that students should not use credit cards at all, and certainly not at the very beginning of their first term at university.
“Spending on credit cards should be avoided wherever possible,” Sue Edwards of Citizens Advice told the Times.
Others added that credit card companies are reliant on gimmicks to draw student credit card customers, in Barclays’ case the offer of interest-free credit for a Dell laptop.
The cost of the laptop is deducted from the card’s credit limit in monthly instalments of £30.
“Our advice to students would be to make use of the cheaper forms of credit available to them, such as student loans and interest-free overdrafts, before turning to credit cards of any kind,” said Frances Walker of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service.
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