Lamb: OFT storecard conclusions 'no surprise'

2.17.36pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 18th Mar 2004

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Treasury Minister and MP for North Norfolk, Norman Lamb, has welcomed the publication by the Office of Fair Trading of its report on storecards - but says its conclusions come as no surprise.

The OFT's report concludes that there is a 'lack of transparency for consumers in the way storecards are offered and used.' It has now referred the supply of storecard services to the Competition Commission as a result of its findings.

Commenting, Norman Lamb said: "I am pleased that the OFT has come to these conclusions. However, at the same time I am not surprised that its investigations have highlighted this lack of transparency as to the real cost of the credit being offered, while the referral to the Competition Commission now means that there will be a further wait before action is taken.

"In addition, I am appalled that some of the issues raised by the Treasury Select Committee have still not been addressed. During the Committee's hearing on this, I challenged storecard providers over their refusal to allow customers to take application forms away with them to read carefully and fill in, and yet this is still going on."

"My own research into storecards illustrated very clearly that they are an extremely costly form of credit, and that the accompanying information provided by the stores themselves lacks clarity. Just as with other credit cards, there is an urgent need for these important details to be presented in an easy-to-understand way."