A Burton bank is backing calls to bans to credit card firms from putting up spending limits for people who are already vulnerable to debt.
Citizens Advice, a network of independent charities which gives confidential information and advice to people with money and legal problems, revealed in a recent investigation that almost one in five people struggling with debt have had their credit limit raised without them being asked beforehand.
According to the study card firms are more likely to increase the limits for those who are already struggling to meet their repayments.
The charity is now calling for firms to be banned from raising credit card limits without people's clear consent.
The discovery comes after growing concerns about a potential 'credit bubble' which has seen UK households having accumulated more than £200 billion in unsecured borrowing. A third of that – £67 billion – is on credit cards.
Dan Wass, building society's director of banking and insurance at Nationwide, which has a branch in High Street, said: "Nationwide supports Citizens Advice in calling for an end to credit card firms raising credit limits without expressly getting permission from the customer first.
"Allowing customers to decide whether or not they receive an increase to their credit card limit not only helps them stay in control of their money, but could also prevent them getting further into debt.
"Nationwide is the only provider that always asks customers to opt in rather than automatically apply increases to credit limit.
"We believe it isn't fair to assume someone would want or need greater access to credit, so in March 2016 we changed our terms and conditions to rule out auto credit limit increases, although this had been our policy for a number of years.
"Nationwide has been active in calling for greater transparency across the industry to make credit cards fairer and simpler for customers to understand. We remain committed to reviewing the way we offer credit cards so that customers are given a valuable product that consistently sets the standard for fairness, transparency and long-term value."
Card firms have been accused of using ever longer interest free periods on balance transfers and purchases to suck people in.
However, when those periods draw to a close, borrowers can be hit with sky-high interest rates, landing them in financial trouble, said Citizen's Advice.
Citizens Advice said that 18 per cent of customers battling with long term debt had their credit limits raised without them requesting it in the past year.
The charity helped nearly 66,000 people with more than 140,000 credit card debt problems in the past year.
According to our sister title the Mirror , one example showed a man who owed £15,000 on four different credit cards and could only make the minimum monthly repayments was told by all his lenders they were increasing his credit limit.
After his debts spiralled to £30,000, he turned to Citizens Advice for help.
