Many people will know the combination of pressure and temptation that they face when they go into many different well known retailers and are encouraged to take out a store card. At this time of year in particular, retailers are on a mission to hard sell their store cards and will offer a range of different incentives, such as discounts and freebies, in order to get customers that come through the door to sign up to a store card.

However, with the debt issues that so many people are already facing a lot of concern has been raised about the increased debt levels that are stemming from store cards, which come with crippling rates of interest for those that do not repay the balance in full on a monthly basis. With many people struggling financially the temptation of a store card along of freebies and discounts is too high to resist, but the card can quickly lead to spiralling debt.

Authorities are now taking action to ban retailers from hard selling store cards, which means that they will no longer be able to offer discounts and freebies in a bid to try and get shoppers to sign up to the cards. A huge number of people are lured in by these incentives coupled by the right sales patter from experienced staff and thi9s has contributed to worrying levels of debt being experienced by many households and individuals.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, said: “The public told us that consumers can be tempted into taking out a store card by being offered a discount at the till. We’ve listened to these concerns and have worked with industry to develop a strong package of measures in response. This ban will mean that stores will not be able to offer discounts, free gifts or similar incentives to encourage consumers to take out store cards at the point of sale, or for the first seven days.”

 

Tags: spiralling, retailers, strong package, debt, experienced staff