The government in the UK has finally produced some steps to curb the credit card industry. The question still remains though, is it too small a help and is it already too late to benefit most UK citizens? What exactly is included in the White Paper that the government released? Will it affect credit cards like the zero percent balance transfer or the credit cards instant decision cards that have been so popular in recent years?

It remains to be seen at this point because nothing has happened yet. One thing that does appear to have been addressed in the White Paper is to stop the mailing of credit card cheques. This seems to be an area that has proven to put more and more people into deep debt. It may seem like a good idea to use that five hundred pound cheque, but if you can’t pay it back right away the interest is astronomical. If a customer takes a year to pay it back they will have paid out another one hundred and fifty pounds. This adds up to about a thirty percent interest rate.

Another important issue that the White Paper is supposedly addressing is the APR rates. They keep escalating even though the UK government base rates have stayed consistently low at 0.5 per cent.

The debt that UK citizens face at this time is estimated to be in the neighbourhood of one point five billion pounds. This amount works out to be about sixty thousand pounds per household. There is no end in sight if the credit card companies are not stopped. That is why so many are hoping that these new regulations will stop the bleeding. It seems that everyone will have to wait and see if these proclamations will indeed help.