It was bound to make them few friends, it seems to have backfired spectacularly, and now the Office of Fair Trading wants to investigate them.

Yep, Egg is definitely not flavour of the month with most of you!

In what appears to be a masterstroke of stupidity, Egg withdrew credit cards from 161,000 of its customers who it thought posed an unacceptably "high risk" and was accused of closing the accounts of some reliable customers (which appears to be most of them by the sound of it!)

Apacs (the UK payments association) said more than 60% of us in the UK have a credit card and 68% of us pay off our balances in full every month.

Apacs said those of us who are not happy with Egg or any other credit card company, to switch and choose from among the estimated 1,000 credit cards available to us in the UK.

On the back of this huge faux pas by Egg, the Financial Services Authority plans to launch an independent website that will help you compare credit cards. And in doing so, it could save you £137 a year that you could be wasting on a credit card.

• So, why are they doing it?

Research done by the OFT following a super-complaint by the consumer group Which? found that 70% of us credit card holders had not shopped around and got ourselves the best deal.

It said we were "throwing money away" by not comparing cards before making our application, and losing £400 million a year by not understanding calculation methods.

It cited a report which calculated that on average, we stand to lose £137 a year by choosing an average priced credit card rather than the cheapest. According to the survey, the most common reason for us choosing a particular card is a recommendation by our bank (and let's face it, they have vested interest in recommending their own cards!)

John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, said:

"No one wants to throw money away, but consumers who don't shop around for credit cards are doing just that. It is essential that consumers are given the right tools to make comparisons between credit cards more easily, and we can achieve this through some of the recommendations announced today which have received widespread support."

Apacs said the new comparison website would prove an important additional tool to help us make better informed choices about the card that best suits our needs. And that is no bad thing is it?

The OFT rejected the call for a standardised calculation method, but said it was apparent that consumers needed more help and encouragement to shop around.

• What were the OFT recommendations?

Following work with Which? and the card industry trade body Apacs, the OFT recommended four major changes:

1. the introduction of an independent credit card price comparison website run by the FSA
2. improvements in how information is presented in credit card issuers' summary boxes
3. standardisation of terminology used by credit card issuers in their product literature
4. improvements to consumer education about the benefits of shopping around for a credit card

Many credit cards allocate payments first to outstanding balances at the lowest rate of interest (for example 0% balance transfers), leaving balances charged at higher interest rates, such as purchases and cash advances, to accrue interest.

Jeremy Wood, director for banking and credit cards at Nationwide, one of the few providers to apply payments to the most expensive debt first, said:

"For too long many credit card providers have got away with applying an adverse order of payments to their customers and we hope this new comparison site will address this sharp practice."

So, if you have only been listening to your bank and not doing your homework on getting a new credit card, you could be losing £137 on your credit card.

If you would rather keep that £137, then you should compare credit cards and switch here.

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