Plastic Surgeon is often seen pacing the corridors of the Money Hospital, muttering away about sheer banditry of credit card companies!
The Office of Fair Trading 's £12 cap on credit card charges, (imposed a year ago), has not cost your credit card providers a penny in lost revenue and may even have helped the industry earn even higher profits!
Higher average repayment rates, higher charges for cash withdrawals and higher fees on balance transfers since the OFT ruling have netted the credit card companies at least £815m in new revenues; that's nearly 3 times the £300m lost from capping late payment charges at £12!
This is a setback for the OFT, which is deciding whether to cap current account charges at £12 as well, and is not good news for consumer groups that have championed the case for charge capping.
New research by uSwitch said that since the £12 cap was imposed on credit cards, the average repayment rate for purchases has risen from 15.19% to 16.6%, while for cash withdrawals it has risen even more, from 20.37% to 23.01%.
Balance transfer fees have also become standard practice, with rates rising from 2% to 2.5-3% of the amount transferred, while caps on maximum charges have been removed.
The uSwitch research found new fees such as Lloyds TSB's £35 annual charge for customers who don't use their card regularly and monthly charges of £2 by both Co-op Platinum Visa and Northern Rock base rate Visa.
Also, NatWest, Mint and Royal Bank of Scotland have begun treating purchases of items such as gift cards as 'cash advances' and charge a higher interest rate, with no interest-free period.
The same goes for how HSBC, Egg and MBNA now treat spending by credit card customers on internet gambling sites.
The OFT said it could not comment on the accuracy of the figures provided by uSwitch; (which means there is probably some truth in them!)
And if that's the case, once again Plastic Surgeon will be seen muttering away in the corridors about the credit card companies that are stitching us all up...!