High street credit charges soar

Worried lenders have hiked rates for hard-up consumers by as much as 9% in the past four weeks, threatening to speed up the exodus of shoppers from the high street.

Research from comparison website uSwitch.com revealed that eight providers have increased the cost of unsecured personal loans by up to 9%, while the number of loans available has dropped to 52 from 56.

Lloyds unit Black Horse upped rates for loans of 1,000-2,999 by 9% to 36.9% APR and to 25.9% APR for loans of 5,000-7,499. Bank of Ireland, Bradford & Bingley, Lloyds TSB, Marks and Spencer, Barclaycard, Asda and Sainsbury's Finance have also upped their rates.

"As the news agenda overflows with the global financial meltdown, a plethora of loan rate increases have been implemented in the past four weeks, said Louise Bond, Personal Finance manager at uSwitch.com.

Lenders have increased unsecured personal loans by as much as 9% APR making borrowing even more costly for consumers.

Source